<p>What is everyone's opinion on renting vs buying( new or used)??</p>
<p>I’m gonna tag onto that question… when do most rent/buy their books? Are we ahead or behind schedule? lol</p>
<p>I bought what I could online and then the professor materials from BN on campus yesterday. D can pick up when she gets there. Have a few left because one has the name of the textbook followed by “PKG>Custom” and another has the name followed by “>CUSTOM<BUNDLE”. Not sure what that means and BN doesn’t answer the phone.</p>
<p>IMO, there is absolutely no reason to buy a new book, ever, unless it is a brand new edition with no potential for buying used. Under those circumstances, I might consider renting the book if its available that way, and the book is not essential to keep. My D’s used books have always been almost new quality, most looking unread. Amazon almost always has the best prices. She buys custom materials from Lieberman’s which is generally cheaper than BN. D’s first semester, I helped her walk through the process of comparison shopping - for each book, she used the ISBN to check the price on Amazon, Lieberman’s and BN on campus. She then ordered accordingly, and is now entirely on her own. I suggest you have your student handle this themselves, as long as you can be assured they are not wasting your money by over paying. Students can get free Amazon Prime for one year, which means free shipping on lots of items, except some of the items that are already drastically reduced and being sold by third party sellers. Last semester, she got two of her books for less than $1 each – that is unusual, but this can only happen online. She actually sold those same books back at a profit, also through Amazon for students.</p>
<p>As for timing, I tend to assume the best way to get the lowest prices on used books is to order early, shortly after students sell back their books from the semester prior. It may be that it doesn’t really work that way, but we have done fairly well on that.</p>
<p>Ditto momof2giants - textbooks.com is another on-line source to consider. Sometimes they are cheaper than amazon…and Lieberman’s is definitely cheaper for custom material than Barnes and Noble.</p>
<p>For the Math 242 textbook, I heard you have to buy the 7th edition because it comes with an online code that we need. If we get it used, will the code still work? Is there somewhere we can just buy the code from?</p>
<p>Futuredoctor, who’s your professor?</p>
<p>Futuredoctor - My S has the Math 241/242/243 Custom textbook he purchased from UD B&N last year. He had Mercer for 242 and Pahlajani for 243. I just asked him, and he told me he never had to use a code. His is like new and he’s selling it (shameless plug). PM me if your interested in buying it used.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.stewartcalculus.com/media/7_home.php]CALCULUS[/url”>Stewart Calculus Textbooks and Online Course Materials]CALCULUS[/url</a>]</p>
<p>This is the textbook series, the UD textbook is just Stewart(author) with a UD cover.</p>
<p>Mercer is my professor. I emailed her and she said there’s an access code because we need to submit homework on webassign and we need a log in that comes in the textbook.</p>
<p>We buy through Amazon. I ordered a couple of weeks ago; books are already here. I don’t think the math book for her class is up yet; she may have to get that at BN when she gets there. We get great prices through Amazon - some new, some used.</p>
<p>In one case last year, she needed a booklet that was put together by a UD professor. That had to be purchased at BN.</p>
<p>Last fall when my son had Mercer, he submitted his homework on paper in class. I swear they change these things so the kids have to buy new from BN. Futuredoctor - just an FYI, Mercer is a “he”, and he’s a great professor, one of my sons favorites so far.</p>
<p>Engineering textbooks can run as high as 700-900 per semester, many times my daughter emailed professors to ask if earlier editions were fine, many professors were astonished that they were placing this cost on to the kids, and would tell her earlier editions were fine, way cheaper, and no need to purchase the newest edition. so doesn’t hurt to ask, the calculus book is just stewart calculus with ud cover, ridiculous if you ask me.</p>
<p>The UD Calculus ‘textbook’ from BN is actually a shrink-wrapped pile of unbound papers. My daughter decided to have hers shipped to our house and she was quite surprised when it arrived.</p>
<p>$190 for a ream of 3-punch paper. Amazing…</p>
<p>No wonder she couldn’t find it used.</p>
<p>Wow, they did it again. The year my D took calc 242/243 they came out with the hardcover UD picture on the cover calculus textbook. Now they went to the 3 ring paper version? </p>
<p>Here is the curriculum outline, this was from the class this August. </p>
<p><a href=“MATHSci”>http://www.math.udel.edu/courses/M241%20Department%20Syllabus.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href=“MATHSci”>http://www.math.udel.edu/courses/M242%20Department%20Syllabus.pdf</a></p>
<p>Copied from the syllabus:</p>
<p>University of Delaware Edition, Loose-Leaf version</p>
<p>At least she gets to use it for three classes, so the cost averages out to ~$64 per class. Still, that’s a lot of clams for a loose-leaf version of a textbook.</p>
<p>And the chance of them buying back a pile of loose papers after three semesters of use?</p>
<p>{}</p>
<p>Chemistry and Physics also had the 3 ring loose “textbook” when my daughter took them. Guess they saw how profitable it is, and now the Math department is doing it.</p>
<p>Buy online used and then sell back when done.</p>