(rant) This is just getting ridiculous...

I know I'm in the same boat as everyone else in school right now, but textbook prices are INSANE. I'm a psychology major, and every one of my books is at least $150... for a used copy! And forget selling the books back after the semester is over! A $180 textbook I bought last semester will only get me $50 back, and a book I bought for $120 is only being bought back for $10. Last year, I was only offered $1 for a book that I spent $90 on because they were "overstocked", even though the book was still being used next semester and they were still selling it for $90! Also, my tuition has increased by 13% in the past year. My school (UNCW) prides itself on having very affordable in-state tuition... which is now total BS! They have also required mandatory insurance for every student. Luckily I am under my parents' insurance plan, but my boyfriend has been supporting himself since he was 15 and honestly cannot afford health insurance. Now they take hundreds of dollars from him each semester, or else he can't attend. We also have to drive an extra 20 minutes to class because the apartments near campus are way too much for us to afford. I have severe anxiety problems and am unable to get a job, let alone get through my classes, and all of this stress from school is not helping. The worst part is, I'll probably be unemployed when I graduate anyways because I have little experience and we have such a high unemployment rate. It's times like these I wish I never went to college. 

I was debating going back to college...but N.S has the third highest tuition rate in Canada. I never even looked at what the books were going for...was too scared. Sad how they encourage kids to get secondary education but make it cost an arm and leg. A lot of people I know are now graduating from high school and working for a couple years to save as much money as they can before going back to school. Coming out owing thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans is too much for most people. It was too overwhelming for me. The course I wanted to take was over $11,000 for 2 years, not including books.

I feel your pain. 

I have a senior in high school who is in the midst of college/scholarship applications.

The school that's on her "short list"- is $40,000/year

She's gotten a decent amount of scholarship money- but it's tied to her GPA in college.  She loses it all if her GPA isn't a 3.0 freshman year.  Which I told her after the acceptance letter- and the 1st scholarship amount to this school was announced.

She thinks she wants music ed as a major.  But as I can tell from first hand experience- what you start out in school with- doesn't necessaraly mean that you're going to stick with that major.  A couple of her older friends who have BTDT a few semesters have changed majors.

In a way- I kind of wish we weren't headed in this direction. But in today's world- a high school diploma alone doesn't open many doors.

Cheryl

have you looked at a used book store at all? I have seen text books at our local McKays and actually bought a few and they were all less than $20 for books printed within the last 5 years. Chances are you can get a year or two older and there wont be any significant changes. If its for a class where you know you dont need to memorize the book this is more than okay!!! Also you may want to look into the text book rentals. 

Or you can go the really cheap but slightly annoying route with checking the books out from the school library and then copying them... larger books this may not be a good option lol!

Do you have an ebook reader? That may be another good option. Yes you wont be able to highlight and make notes in the book, but it is still a possibility!

http://www.textbooksrus.com/textbooks/default.aspx

http://www.chegg.com/

http://www.half.ebay.com/

Thanks for the advice everyone! I've gotten older editions of books before for super cheap, and I'm probably going that route again. Unfortunately, I usually don't know if I'm able to do so until classes already start, and by that time all of the used textbooks are gone from the stores. It's a gamble! I'm hoping to get $100 from a book that I'm trying to sell. If so, that will really ease my mind a bit!

I just started college last month and I agree that things are expensive. Have you tried looking at used books on Amazon or on craigslist? I just looked up my one book which sells on amazon for $76.95 and they have used copies for $26.99.

My books cost about $1250, my tuition was $8,995 and my uniform (scrubs) was $56. I am going to a career college and it's only 34 weeks and costs that much. Thankfully, in Ontario there is a program where the government will pay for laid off workers to go back to school so it isn't costing me anything. I just have people from the ministry of training checking up on my grades and making sure I attend classes.

Have you tried to rent them. there are many website out there that loan out textbooks, even online, and I'd think that's a much more economic way to do it. It's also a great way to save the earth!

(I don;t have a question mark key...sorry)

When I went to nursing school I had to take courses at the university as well as the school of nursing.  I didn't buy a single book new. I looked at bulletin boards and spoke to the department for the course I was taking and found students who had older books to either sell or give away.

The books I used for nursing school were about 5 or 6 years old. It didn't matter to me, so what if the pages weren't numbered the same, the information was still the same, alL I had to do was look in the index to find it.  Same with the university books. I used my sister-in-law's old books which were about 10 years old.

If you don't see any books advertised by students, post your own ad asking if anyone has any older books they want to sell or off load.

AimerLee said:

I know I'm in the same boat as everyone else in school right now, but textbook prices are INSANE. I'm a psychology major, and every one of my books is at least $150... for a used copy! And forget selling the books back after the semester is over! A $180 textbook I bought last semester will only get me $50 back, and a book I bought for $120 is only being bought back for $10. Last year, I was only offered $1 for a book that I spent $90 on because they were "overstocked", even though the book was still being used next semester and they were still selling it for $90! Also, my tuition has increased by 13% in the past year. My school (UNCW) prides itself on having very affordable in-state tuition... which is now total BS! They have also required mandatory insurance for every student. Luckily I am under my parents' insurance plan, but my boyfriend has been supporting himself since he was 15 and honestly cannot afford health insurance. Now they take hundreds of dollars from him each semester, or else he can't attend. We also have to drive an extra 20 minutes to class because the apartments near campus are way too much for us to afford. I have severe anxiety problems and am unable to get a job, let alone get through my classes, and all of this stress from school is not helping. The worst part is, I'll probably be unemployed when I graduate anyways because I have little experience and we have such a high unemployment rate. It's times like these I wish I never went to college. 

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Ah, I have a cousin at UNC by the sea.   I wish you the best of luck in your education.  I would love to have a university degree and it's probably something you'll be glad for later on.  I hope things get less stressful for you soon. 

On the subject of books, I went to a community college and they were awful about changing textbook requirements; the college frequently made them obsolete so you couldn't sell them to other students.  I have some nursing books that I should donate to charity so someone can get some benefit from them.  They are still excellent resources, even if the college bookstore doesn't agree.  To my knowledge, basic anatomy and methods of patient care haven't changed since I graduated. 

I went to community college my freshman year, and they were awful about textbooks, too. I remember one class I took required a workbook that was only available at the campus bookstore, but it was in a "bundle pack" with the textbook and an interactive cd (which we never used). Cost me about 200 dollars, and when the semester was over they refused to buy the book back because it wasn't in the plastic wrap anymore. UGH!

LuvMyParker said:

I was debating going back to college...but N.S has the third highest tuition rate in Canada. I never even looked at what the books were going for...was too scared. Sad how they encourage kids to get secondary education but make it cost an arm and leg. 

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I went to school in Nova Scotia for my last two years of uni and the tuition difference between that and the school I went for my first two years in NB (STU) was insane.

I don't know how they can expect people to keep going to the schools when they keep raising prices. I personally know multiple people who decided not to work after high school and went straight to work because they didn't want to deal with the loans.

I'm not sure if your school would do this, but at my uni you were able to rent text books from the library, however there was a time limit on it of two hours or something like that. For some classes I would just go to the library and rent the book for a few hours to do the work there, and photo copy any pages I wanted to keep on hand. It was much cheaper than buying. And as suggested earlier, Amazon is great as well. 

When I was in school, I waited to buy the textbook for a class until I knew the professor was going to actually use it. Every class is REQUIRED to have a textbook, however, not all professors use them. I saved myself tons of money by just waiting a week or two. 

Ive been considering going back to school for my masters but just can't bring myself to take on more school debt. If I get the promotion I'm working on, I will have to get my masters to go to the next level after that. I'm just not looking forward to the additional debt. 

I feel your pain!

Textbook prices ARE ridiculous. Fortunately, I've been able to find great prices on Amazon, half.com, textbooks.com, Chegg, and collegebookrenter.com. I only rented the ones I knew I would NEVER, EVER look at again -- the ones like statistics. :lol3: I keep all my other ones.

if you do not keep your books, renting is seriously the way to go :nod: I probably saved like $500 this semester! you just need the ISBN number, which should be on the "textbooks you need" list. I use campusbookrentals.com and they are consistently the cheapest, collegebookrenter.com isn't bad either. I also ordered my books Monday and they came today and I did not pay for expedited shipping you can also google for coupon codes and save even more, I got a $5 off one for collegebookrenter! If you have any questions, send me a PM, I can guide you through plus if you go thru a referral from me I earn $5 for next semester :lol3:

Textbooks have ever been thus.  I went to college 40 years ago, and it hasn't change.  If anything, those prices may be cheaper than when I attended, adjusted for time.

A number of universities are going over to electronic books on Kindle or Nook.  There is even a Nook app for textbooks; I'm not sure how it works.  However, I know the University of Arkansas has been using the Nook in their literature classes, and the students are saving immense amounts of money in classes where you had to buy 10 or 12 books.

mrblanche said:

Textbooks have ever been thus.  I went to college 40 years ago, and it hasn't change.  If anything, those prices may be cheaper than when I attended, adjusted for time.

A number of universities are going over to electronic books on Kindle or Nook.  There is even a Nook app for textbooks; I'm not sure how it works.  However, I know the University of Arkansas has been using the Nook in their literature classes, and the students are saving immense amounts of money in classes where you had to buy 10 or 12 books.

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I was going to say that, too, about the electronic books and the Nook app.

Textbooks have always been a complete rip-off, IMO. It's a way to make an insane amount of money and the students are the ones suffering. It's always been a very contentious subject around here, too. I remember one of my profs in college (I graduated in 1999....a non-traditional student) who insisted that we buy at least eight books for his classes; he was a Geography prof and I had him for several of my classes since I majored in Geography with a concentration in Environmental Planning. And often, he would use only one chapter out of a book that cost us $85!  Everybody wanted to smack him silly; it was that insane. I would buy new books for my major classes, but used books for general electives. And we got to the point where my buddy and I would share the cost of a textbook because it was just ridiculous. You really can't sell them back because you're not going to get anywhere close to the price that you paid. We would also look for used books for sale on bulletin boards and we would ask people who had already taken the course to borrow their books, too.

When our son was in college, we were paying his tuition. At the beginning of every semester, Rick's parents sent him a check to cover the cost of his textbooks....he was a physics major and those prices were through the roof. My parents sent him a check every month to cover the cost of incidentals and such. We were so glad to see that boy graduate! It cost everybody a small fortune to get him through school.

While we're on the subject, have you seen this? College study: E-books falling flat

CU's textbook rental program is saving students $700,000 a semester, according to Brian Groves, director of the official CU Bookstore. The rental program began in 2010.

Twenty-five percent of the books in the CU Bookstore are available to rent, and 90 percent are available on the bookstore's website.

Groves said a book rental shakes out to be about half the cost of buying the book.

About 15 percent of students are taking advantage of the rental options, he said.

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Check out Wikibooks.  You might be able to get access to a book or two that you need.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

RAFM said:

When I was in school, I waited to buy the textbook for a class until I knew the professor was going to actually use it. Every class is REQUIRED to have a textbook, however, not all professors use them. I saved myself tons of money by just waiting a week or two. 

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Yes. Good advice. I have had many texts that where never even opened once.  And if i did need to look some thing up I went to the library .

I never had a rental program back when, but that sounds like a good idea.