<p>1 of the 13 books he needed for greek history/classics class was $83.50 new/$68 used from the bookstore. Used the ISBN on B & N and sure enough came up the same price but B & N like Amazon offers other sellers, and other sellers had 5 copies for $1.99 + $3.89 shipping. Similar savings on the OTHER 12 books needed for the class.</p>
<p>Similar but even more savings for the 3rd edition vs. 4th for Inorganic Chem book: $178 new/$144 used, paid $7.50 + $3.99 at half.com (same ISBNs not the international edition). Asked prof it was fine and he said he actually preferred previous edition and sent an email saying as such.</p>
<p>Also investment banking class prof was not particular about edition so went with older edition for $4.29 vs. $200+.</p>
<p>Huge, huge difference. Son was willing to ask as is his siblings so between them they have all saved a substantial amount over their education...son saved almost $850+ this semester alone. More so when he has more hard science classes with labs. He thinks of it as a "book scholarship!"</p>
<p>Son's pre-med organization that he belongs to along with students' a year ahead of him and some other opportunities that he has had have made those materials available to him. He was able to purchase used ones (last years) at the usual suspects, half.com, b & n used, amazon marketplace, biblio.com and again students in his classes, for very little expense. Also our B & N membership provides coupons 15% to 40% off at varying times of the year so that is when he purchased (40% + membership discount) to buy a new version of the GMAT prep books. That one he wanted the new CDs and new book for.</p>
<p>I'd be careful buying the International or "country-specific" versions...it can be hazardous to your child's education. Several classmates and I did that for our Accounting for Managers course and none of the questions were the same as the required textbook. Several of us had to buy the real book so we could do our homework...others relied on friends to make photocopies of each chapter.</p>
<p>A certain readings book is about $87 new but as low as $0.99 plus shipping for the previous edition. There were minor changes in the readings for the new edition. Of course, if necessary the new one could be read once or twice on reserve in the college library.</p>
<p>I know that for some of my D’s courses, she has had to buy a “course pack.” A lot of times it is filled with copies of articles or excerpted chapters from a book. The school has to pay the publisher for the rights to publish this material in their course packs. That can explain why sometimes the price of a bunch of xeroxed papers seems out of whack compared to the time and labor to put these packs together.</p>
<p>But it’s a lot cheaper than having the kids buy the books that this material came from.</p>
<p>Just wanted to share some information my classmate provided me recently. I was usually purchasing my $$$$ EXPENSIVE $$$ Textbooks and had hardly any money left over for anything. However, I have seen the light and currently have the option of purchasing or renting my textbooks at a fraction of the price I was paying. I thought other students on a budget could appreciate this information.</p>
<p>I read an interesting article once about textbook prices, and a professor who had written a textbook said that she had tried to create a cheaper one, but taking out a lot of the unnecessary fluff like huge color photos and attached CDs that drive up the price. But then she couldn’t get professors to adopt her textbook for her class, because they assumed that a textbook that was as cheap as hers was, must not be as good as the expensive ones. It’s such a messed up little industry.</p>