Textbook Rant

[soccerchamp76]

I just fucking paid $853 for my textbooks!!!
My organic chemistry textbook alone with $250. How on earth is someone not doing something to try and lower that price just a little bit??? 253 dollars for one textbook is a little ridiculous

[rhaevyn]

I buy my books on Ebay and Amazon Marketplace. 7 of my 11 books cost a total of $59.

[shesus]

Wow, textbooks have gotten expensive since I finished undergrad. That is a very high price. I wonder who gets the money, because it definitely doesn't go to the editors.

[maleficent]

Certain things stay with me...Cost Accounting, junior year, requirement for my finance minor, in 1984ish -- before the days of amazon and other online bookresellers... the professor of the class WROTE the text book, and it got updated every year, if you got the class first semester, you paid full price for the book... I think it was somewhere around 185 dollars... books per semester used to run about 400- 500 dollars..

[Blackthorn]

Originally Posted by maleficent

... the professor of the class WROTE the text book, and it got updated every year, if you got the class first semester, you paid full price for the book... I think it was somewhere around 185 dollars...

Text Book Rant... I was expecting some classic rant a-la-Clavus...

I have one of those experiences too. Lawrence Mazlak at the University of Cincinnati -- Database Administration Theory in his world. Uuuugh. Useless text book that cost about a Benji. Unreal...and even crazier that the cost of books is now approaching 10 dimes.

[Marvelous Marv]

There have been quite a few articles in the papers recently. Useless revisions were discussed.

I'm surprised students don't do what we did in college-- buy one copy, and divide the labor of photocopying it for several other people.

Dishonest? Yes. But so are the publishing houses who revise HISTORY books every year.

[maleficent]

We did that photocopying in those classes that we had to take but pretty muchserved no useful purpose to us (music appreciation, art appreciation, women's studies, poetry... ) Books that pertained to my major or were requirements for my major i bought and kept then tossed out pretty much the day my student loans were paid off.

[spectre]

Damn, and here I thought the $300+ I'm paying this semester was bad. Some of the books are a complete scam though. They put out new editions that really don't offer anything different, other than new examples and a few end of chapter questions being changed. Have to buy the book new, not used just so you can do the homework. Total scam.

[aberkok]

Yeah, working in a bookstore I see the scam that is the course publishing industry. It makes me sick and even though my boss would get angry, I always try to slip in a "you could probably find it at the library" in my sales pitch. Looking back on my university years, I would have made more effort to get books out at the library. I think that would have worked especially considering the amount of time I spent studying. If they are not to be taken out, then so be it. I'd have just studied there.

I realize that this might not work for some, but I don't think a lot of people consider it. Seems when the text is listed as "required," too many people take it to mean that they have to buy the book.

I'm not a fan of photocopying, but not for legal reasons. More for the reason that at the end of the day I neither want to keep a photocopied version of a book, nor do I want to waste all the paper by throwing it out, nor can I sell it off.

[laconic1]

The thing that pissed me off when I was in college was the new versions they would come out with. When I was in community college I bought a first edition textbook for one of my classes. When I went to sell it back at the end of the semester they wouldn't take it since a second edition was coming out. A couple of years later I went to a university and they required me to buy the fourth edition of the same book I had bought four years earlier. I forgot about the first edition I had sitting at home until Thanksgiving break. When I got home for Thanksgiving I thought I would compare the books and see what they had updated. All they had done was change the fucking pictures! Every single word of text was exactly the same! Even the captions on the pictures were the same, and the pictures were of the same things on the same pages, the pictures were just different! The review questions at the end of the chapters were the same too! It was an automotive textbook, so the first edition might have a guy working on a Ford, the fourth edition the guy was working on a Toyota. Ridiculous.

[Sage]

It took a few years for me to get privvy to the "just because they say you have to have it doesn't mean you have to have it." I would go to class a few times and see how badly you needed the book. For instance, last semester I took a psych 100 class and didn't buy the book, and I passed the class with an A. It really depends on the teacher- what they want, do you have class discussions on the actual reading or does it just "suppliment" the course. The only book I bought and really used was my spanish book.

Textbooks suck.

[Slavakion]

Originally Posted by soccerchamp76

I just fucking paid $853 for my textbooks!!!
My organic chemistry textbook alone with $250. How on earth is someone not doing something to try and lower that price just a little bit??? 253 dollars for one textbook is a little ridiculous

Is this in US dollars? My most expensive textbook (Bio 101) was half that. A little more if not-used. I'm not sure how much an average gouging comes to, but I thought I did "well" with "only" 500 USD. At least my biology text is good for two semesters...

I'll say this, though: my chemistry AP test more than paid for itself. The textbook I would have had to buy costs twice what the test did.

[Konekochan]

I paid $150 for two classes worth of books. And that with one of them being used. $58 for a used, paperback book that's less than 300 pages. Textbook prices suck.

[CSflim]

Originally Posted by soccerchamp76

I just fucking paid $853 for my textbooks!!!
My organic chemistry textbook alone with $250. How on earth is someone not doing something to try and lower that price just a little bit??? 253 dollars for one textbook is a little ridiculous

Jesus! You need to discover a little place called the library!


Just kidding, I presume that wouldn't be practical for you. But for the record, my expenditure on college books last year totalled $0.

[alansmithee]

I haven't got my books for this semester yet (class starts next week) but I always plan for around $120-$150 per class. I rely upon books, simply because I'm not a fan of attending class so I need to get my info somewhere.

As for new editions, its really a pain but many professors will let you know if an older edition will do. Also, I remember reading in USA Today awhile back that one of the reasons for the cut-and-paste new editions is because most companies don't make any money on the initial edition, and rely upon later editions runs for profit.

[Sugar&Spice]

I depend on addall.com for my books. I just type in the ISBN number and it searches hundreds of online bookstores for the cheapest price and the it lists them all out for you. You can then click to buy it and it directs you to the site you need to go to. It has saved me a lot of money.

[Gilda]

Sissy's books this semester came in at around $700 through the bookstore, a little over $400 at the off-campus used textbook store.

The textbook for my children's lit class is $110 through the campus bookstore, but can be found in a used edition for $3-$20 on Amazon marketplace.

My adolescent lit book is $90 new, or about $50 at the used bookstore.

There are usually about another $50 in paperbacks if you buy them new, and those change with each course depending upon how I've revised my curriculum.

I couldn't care less what edition the students get most of the time, or whether they get it from the campus bookstore.

Gilda

[Blaise]

Those prices are incredible. I didn't buy a single textbook through my entire first year. I got my name on the library waiting list for all the essential books, one at a time, and then when I got them I photocopied the essential bits which we were told to read. The rest of the time, I borrowed and read some of the other hundreds of books on the same subject and used those for essays and lab reports and background reading.

[astrahl]

I never went to the campus textbook store unless the book was unavailable anywhere else. I went to half.com, amazon.com...there is even an online textbook comparison shopper that works REALLY well.

In the meantime - just consider the books an investment in your brain. You pay money for clothes to make your body look good, consider this expenditure as making your brain look good.

[shakran]

Some schools are fighting back against this. They have a textbook rental system. You pay a small fee in your tuition, then you check out your textbooks without having to pay any more money.

[canuckguy]

I think i posted this before, I did a search but could not find my old post, but if you want to recoup some of your money here is what i did in university. All year I just collected textbooks from the lost and found in the caf, library, student union, residences...etc Anywhere students will leave books behind I would go and visit the lost and found. Now I know that books were not lost by me but hey, you gotta feed yourself sometimes. I would go and rumage though the books and pick out newest books. At the end of the year the bookstores usually have a book-buy-back day where they'll rebuy back your old text books for a discounted price. All those books you collected are now hard cash baby.

And if your lucky you might find some books you need for yourself in the lost and found for next semester. sorry to anyone who finds this morally disgusting, if you value your books you probably would not have lost them to begin with. I know that my books were so $$$ that i handled them like they were made of gold. and some were!

[snowy]

I'm really really lucky...the bookstore here on our campus is run by a student board, so they keep prices as low as feasibly possible, and try and keep as many used copies on hand as possible. Before the term starts, I print off the list of books needed from their website with all of their prices and double-check them against Amazon, Ebay, and half.com. I also look in the classifieds in the school paper and in the classifieds for our university forum to see if anyone's selling a used copy for cheap.

One thing I would like to do as a future business is start a textbook dealership online. I'd like to buy used textbooks from students for a fair and decent price and resell them for slightly more.

I sell my used/"new" textbooks online through Ebay--I've made at least $200 selling books that have become worthless to me. I also make more through Ebay than I would selling them back to the bookstore.

Notably, a lot of profs realize how much the books are costing you and will sometimes put a textbook on reserve in the library so you don't have to pay the $100+ for the book. Usually I wait until the first day of class to go buy my books to make sure I NEED the textbook.

[thesupermikey]

after talking with some profs over the past few years this is what i have figured out:

1) they dont like it any more than they do
2) if you are in an upperlevel sci class its going to cost more b/c the books are often printed in color
3) profs who have there own book dont set the selling price, dont control the reprinting of differnt edtions. Had on prof who wrote a populer math - logic book. She found out the week before the start of class that they publisher had put out a new edition. The change, the cover and a new answer key.
4) book stores often cant control prices. They are set by the publisher. Bookstores arent buy texts at a low price and selling they high. They are buying them high and making a small margin

[Lasereth]

The prices are that high because most college kids are spoiled brats whose parents will send them endless supplies of money with which to do what they want. The people whose parents are <I>not</I> paying for their college are the people who are getting scammed. Most universities fail to include reasonable prices for those who get federal loans and then STILL don't have enough money to pay for tuition alone (me). The whole FAFSA system is fucked up anyway. Even if your parents aren't paying for your college, they still base how much grants/loans you get on your parents' income. So I get no grants, not enough loans, and still have extra costs like books and parking permits even though I'm not getting a free ride from my parents.

-Lasereth

[BigBen]

Shit guys... I hate to sound like the "One-Up-Guy", but my textbooks were waaaaaay more expensive than that.

Having said that, I have all of my textbooks from university in my office at home. I paid for them, I read them, and I still refer to them when I have a problem... It makes me feel good and smart and important to see a whole wall of textbooks that I have read and understood. I think they are worth it.

I had a "History of Economics" class that cost me well over 600 bucks FOR THAT CLASS ALONE.

But the reading list was the greatest books from the greatest minds ever. If I wanted to, I could have got that from the library, but now I have Marx, Smith, Ricardo, Keynes, and even that Russel Crowe guy (hahaha) on my shelf.

I take issue with people who throw their notes / textbooks away at the end of the semester (or for textbooks, selling them at a price where you might as well throw them away). I paid for my learning experience, I earned the grade, I want to keep that knowledge forever!

Hey, expensive textbooks beat the alternative: A lifetime of ignorance.

[Bill O'Rights]

We didn't have textbooks back in my day, as the papyrus was just too expensive, and the scrolls far too cumbersome for a full classload. We usually would just follow along as our instructor would write in the sand by his feet.

Ok...all foolishness aside, my daughter's textbooks are calculated into the cost of her tuition. I gotta say...I'm likin' that setup...a lot! Saves on those pesky assed "surprise" expenses. I think, and this has been a "few" years ago, the most expensive textbook that I had to buy was Business Law, and that ran, I believe, around $90.00.

[Marvelous Marv]

Originally Posted by Sugar&Spice

I depend on addall.com for my books. I just type in the ISBN number and it searches hundreds of online bookstores for the cheapest price and the it lists them all out for you. You can then click to buy it and it directs you to the site you need to go to. It has saved me a lot of money.

That's handy to know!!

Thanks.

[Slavakion]

Originally Posted by thesupermikey

2) if you are in any sci class its going to cost more b/c the books are too full of knowledge (or something).

Fixed. Science texts seem to always cost more.

[Astrocloud]

Borrow the book from a classmate and photocopy the needed parts...

[mystmarimatt]

"Hear, now!" Thus spake mystmarimatt unto the masses. "Such is the glorious nature of English Major-dom, for books doth cost but $5 dollars on the almighty AMAZON.COM, your great lord and righteous GOD! No longer shall you be beholden to the wicked, evil prices of the sanctimonious bookstore! No, ye shall be saved, ye shall be redeemed by the love and acceptance of the almighty AMAZON.COM!"

Seriously though, as an english major, I luck out in that I really can get most of my books cheap, and really, I usually don't sell them back anyway, I just add them to my collection.

Back when I was doubling in History and English though, that was killer. I held the bookstore's record for most spent on books last spring term.

[wdevauld]

My bookstore decided to stop increasing the prices, and just started taking your soul.

Seriously though, most schools will have an underground market, that cuts the bookstore right out of the picture. Check bulletin boards for people selling books, and perhaps they can recoupe more of their loses, and keep the bookstore from a double digit margin.

There is always the problem with moving between editions of the book. The information rarely changes between the editions, just some typos and a couple of sentences. The problems included in the book change almost every time (I think that may be why they change the editions), and to fix that I would just copy the questions out of a friends text, or I would check it out of the library to get the problem set.

[the_ref]

Worst class I ever had that way was back in my grad school days -- one class, 4 books, over $200, and in the end NONE of them were even any good! The whole reason they were on the list was because they were new books that the prof thought might be interesting, but no reviews were available for them yet. Essentially she got a free copy of each book, we got shafted on price, and ultimately not even the used book stores wanted 'em because no one was going to use them again.

And those prices were from about a dozen years ago...

[chance]

I have heard about schools using the electronic books. I'm not sure about how comfortable that would be, but it sounds like a good idea.

[Pragma]

I've never been a fan of the whole eBooks thing - I can't seem to keep concentrated on actually reading if I don't have the physical book in front of me. Now, I hate paying several hundred dollars a semester in books - and I tend to keep the books (or at least those computer science and math books that are useful) but I'd much rather the physical books than electronic copies.

[Gilda]

Originally Posted by mystmarimatt

Back when I was doubling in History and English though, that was killer. I held the bookstore's record for most spent on books last spring term.

Dude!

Another English/History double major. I remember those days of get up, read till classes start, read at lunch, read till supper, study notes until bedtime, repeat the next day.

Once I added my teaching credential classes, it really became fun.

And my brother thinks Biochemistry is going to be a hard major. .

Gilda

[Zeraph]

Wow @ the OP. I thought my $300 was bad.

[rhaevyn]

Originally Posted by Gilda

Another English/History double major. I remember those days of get up, read till classes start, read at lunch, read till supper, study notes until bedtime, repeat the next day.

Uh-oh. Perhaps I ought to rethink my English/History double major.

[Lead543]

$490- English, History, Linguistics, Psychology.

I had a $500 scholarship

*sigh*

It's all gone now.

[Glava]

Originally Posted by mystmarimatt

Seriously though, as an english major, I luck out in that I really can get most of my books cheap, and really, I usually don't sell them back anyway, I just add them to my collection.

What you save in textbooks now will be eclipsed by the money you miss out on when your English major is put to use

[snowy]

Originally Posted by Glava

What you save in textbooks now will be eclipsed by the money you miss out on when your English major is put to use

Those of us who major in English know going in that we cannot expect to make much money unless we really work towards that end. However, once I finish my education and choose my career path in education, I have the ability to make good money--if I choose to become a counselor or administrator. I'd think I'd rather take the pay hit and stay in the classroom, thank you very much.

English actually can lead to a lot of careers that pay a good wage: publishing, law, technical writing, copyediting, journalism. Never underestimate the value of being able to write and speak well. They are very valuable skills in today's job market.