How much do you actually spend on books? 1220$ as Penn suggests or do you end up spending more/less than that?
If you choose to purchase every book brand new and not sell any of them after you complete the class, then you may end up spending $1,220 on books. However, there are many websites like half.com (very reliable, a subsidiary of eBay) or Amazon that offer used books for a discounted price. Also, there’s a Textbook Exchange Facebook group that Penn students use to purchase books from one another. This is a way to purchase books for much cheaper than the retail price and also allows you to sell your book once you are done with the course. I haven’t calculated the exact net cost of my books (subtracting the price I’ve sold them for from what I paid for them), but it’s nowhere close to $1,220 per year.
^ I agree. There’s another site called Penn Book Bazaar where you can buy books from other Penn students. If you don’t want to purchase textbooks, you can also rent them through Amazon or another site, and that’s another way to lower the cost of textbooks.