<p>Somehow D is under the impression that it is best to wait until first day of class to buy text books. This doesn't sound right to me. How do you usually handle the timing of text book purchases? Also, do you buy or rent online, or use the campus bookstore?</p>
<p>Others may disagree, but I usually buy my textbooks shortly before the semester starts. The bookstore site indicates whether each book is required or optional, and those tend to be pretty accurate.</p>
<p>Never, never, never rent books from the bookstore. Never buy books from the bookstore unless you don’t have any other options. Prices are always cheaper on Amazon and if you don’t want to keep the books for reference, you can usually resell them on Amazon for close to full price (if they’re still in good condition). In other words, you get to use the book almost for free. Alternatively, the bookstore offers low rates if you try to resell a book. Always buy a hard copy instead of a digital copy. And finally, I can’t stress this enough: renting from the bookstore is absolutely the worst thing you can do.</p>
<p>Of course, all of this advice is geared toward saving money. A semester’s worth of books can easily cost $500 or more. If for some reason the price isn’t a concern (which it always should be) and you’re looking for convenience, then obviously the bookstore is for you.</p>
<p>Students with a .edu email address can sign up for a six-month free trial of Amazon Student, which comes with the benefit of free 2-day shipping.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info</a></p>
<p>Take advantage of it. The mail room on the South 40 is always hectic and unorganized, especially during the first few weeks of a semester. Plan accordingly so that your books aren’t arriving on campus during the first week or two like everyone else’s.</p>
<p>Kennedy- RavNzCroFT is right on the money. I compared the prices of my son’s books as listed on Amazon and the school book store. In every instance, it was cheaper to by the textbooks from Amazon. As my son wasn’t really that picky, he actually was able to find good quality used textbooks that were cheaper on Amazon than renting from the school bookstore.</p>
<p>I always bought my textbooks used (same edition) online. You can get the isbn’s from courselistings to ensure that it’s the right book. This meant I was buying books around now for Fall semesters to make sure they came in on time. Freshman fall can be a weird exception, given that a lot of people don’t register until they’re on campus… but you should still know for big classes (ie Gen Chem) that you’re guaranteed to be taking.</p>
<p>Never never never buy books from the campus bookstore unless it’s absolutely necessary (ie WashU specific books). Even courses that require access codes can be bought used - just get a used version of the text, and then buy the access code separately if it doesn’t come with the book.</p>
<p>Also, at the end of a semester I always either sold back online or did amazon’s trade in (for an amazon gift card) can really reduce costs.</p>
<p>For numbers, my average $$$ over my time at WashU was maybe $200 a semester (and I was an engineering major who often had big heavy expensive books for every class). Selling back netted me ~$150, so I only really spent about $50 a semester in the long run.</p>
<p>One option if your kid wants to keep the book: still sell back at the end of the semester to get some money (if it was particularly expensive, and you can get a decent amount back), and then buy an older edition for $5. In most cases, the only thing that changes is minor additions or the order of problems in the back of chapters; and once you’re done with the class, it really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Edit: because I never spent all that much on books, I was never really upset when a professor didn’t have us use it or it was a bit useless (or in the one instance where on the first day the professor said he/she had decided to change the book).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your responses!</p>
<p>Often times the textbooks listed on the website will be optional. I always wait until the first week of classes, and when I’ve decided if I’m going to take the course and not take something else, and if the book is actually needed.</p>
<p>Amazon Prime is free for six months and offers free 2 day shipping. Textbooks are hardly ever used the first two weeks, and if they are professors generally scan the problem sets and post them as a PDF online.</p>