College Textbooks Cost TOO DAMN MUCH!!!

[Hatake Kakashi]

Yeah, so I'm returning to college to enter a career which I truly feel a calling toward. Pharmacy was nice and all, but I got into it for the wrong reasons and found I didn't really enjoy it. Currently, I'm in pursuit of my Master's in Education, with a major in English.

Trouble is, as many of you probably know, textbooks are sickeningly expensive. I've checked Amazon, Half, Barnes and Noble, hell, I even checked Hastings. And to my dismay, though I found some sites with a slightly lower price than my college's bookstore, the shipping makes up the difference and I'd only end up leaving myself with an inconvenience in time. So I'm checking with you savvy folks to see if any of you know where I could get my hands on books for a low cost. I'm looking to buy, but I don't care if they're new or used as long as they're in good condition. Would any of you care to provide a few pointers?

In case some of you know, I've got the ISBNs handy:
9780077224790
9780547204888
9780136035930

Thanks so much in advance for the help or advice.

[Specterbane]

I can't remember all the tricks I ended up hearing about. I had engineering internships so I had money to back during college and was willing to pay to avoid hassle (I don't recommend it now though).

The tricks I remember off the top of my head are to look for older editions that are used. Once a book releases a new edition the price get jacked back up for the reprinting and the old edition's value goes down. Look around for those if you can, otherwise think about checking Craig's list if you haven't done that yet. I'll put some more tips if I find any.

[mauve]

University library. Check the catalogue-- you might find the same book or an earlier edition.

Local bookstores, especially of the independently-owned buy-sell-trade variety. School bookstores pay crap for used books, so local resale bookstores ofen end up buying students' old books at the end of term.

Second hand shops like Goodwill or St Vincent dePaul. These are awesome for more common books like novels you need for literature classes.

Amazon, etc. I know a lot of my fellow students scoured Amazon and ebay for their textbooks, although I never used it myself.

Offer to go halvies with another student. If you know someone in the class, go halvies on the books and buy one copy you can share/ make copies of.

[Nikose Tyris]

Some schools let you rent your text book, for 50% or more off.

Alternatively, if you're INCREDIBLY lucky, someone will have scanned and made a PDF copy of your textbook. such things are rare.

[BitVyper]

Alternatively, if you're INCREDIBLY lucky, someone will have scanned and made a PDF copy of your textbook. such things are rare.

Getting less rare, so I'm told, but that would be piracy and I can't in good conscience endorse ripping off publishers who rip off hundreds of dollars from people who make under 10000/year.

Edit: Sometimes it's worthwhile to hold off on purchasing textbooks for a week or so anyway, just to see which profs are using them daily, and which ones are using them daily (to prop up the one short leg on their desks).

[Specterbane]

Quick (http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=BOOK&WRD=elementary+algebra%2bmark+dugopolski&box=elementary%20algebra+mark%20dugopolski&pos=-1) link (http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=BOOK&WRD=those+who+can,+teach%2bkevin+ryan%2b+james+coo per&box=those%20who%20can,%20teach+kevin%20ryan+%20jam es%20cooper&pos=-1) dump (http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=BOOK&WRD=constructive+guidance+and+discipline:+preschoo l+and+primary+education&box=constructive%20guidance%20and%20discipline:%20 preschool%20and%20primary%20education&pos=-1) of what I've found from your ISBNs

Also there's this option (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy/) which might be cheaper in total, but do the math before making any decisions.

Best of luck, hope it helps and Mauve is totally right about the University Library. Check there first chance you get.

[Hatake Kakashi]

Thank you, everyone, for your answers. I'll look into every last one suggested. And if anyone else has any other ideas, please feel free to post.

[Jagos]

halfbooks.com

half.com

[Magus]

I ended up getting books one year from Penntext.com, they are a local company but you may be able to find what you want from there if know the ISBN numbers, as I'm sure colleges across the U.S. are often using the same textbooks. They really saved me a bundle. No idea what shipping to wherever you live would be, though.

There was also Cheapbooks.com but I remember not liking them at all.

Pretty much every other year I just got my books from the university because they seemed to have used copies of almost everything.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Don't buy textbooks. You won't need them. You mightneed them once or twice a year for help during an assignment but library should have some form of short loan for in demand books or at least heaps of copies.

[Hanuman]

Find previous students fresh off, they usually sell for 1/2 cost. What I heard: Book prices keep prof's pockets lined. True/False?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Find previous students fresh off, they usually sell for 1/2 cost. What I heard: Book prices keep prof's pockets lined. True/False?

False, at least that I know of. Like are you suggesting kickbacks for pickign a particular book? Cause theytend to be pretty similar the world over.

[Flarecobra]

False, as it's the individual school that sets the price...

[Azisien]

True, if they wrote/co-wrote the textbook... :dance:

[bluestarultor]

If you act quickly enough, your school bookstore should have some used copies. If they don't have them out, ask if they have any. Even if they don't it never hurts.

Also, if your school system has a public announcement section to the email system (some do), it's common for people to post requests for used books. I'd imagine they're at least somewhat successful. Also check the bulletin boards around your school for postings, or, heck, make your own! Just put down somewhere beneath your ideal price "or best offer." Haggle a bit.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

True, if they wrote/co-wrote the textbook... :dance:

Even then the royalties are very low. And textbooks are pretty standard- as in only a tiny fraction of professors are benefiting.
Even then, professor wages are so ridiculously low if they can make more money I got no problem with it.

[bluestarultor]

Even then the royalties are very low. And textbooks are pretty standard- as in only a tiny fraction of professors are benefiting.
Even then, professor wages are so ridiculously low if they can make more money I got no problem with it.

There was one at my first college who was rumored to be a pizza delivery guy. :/


Textbooks are standard because they can all be traced to a small handful of companies that masquerade under different subsidiaries. I think in America there are literally only five, maybe six major parent companies. Almost everything is owned by them.

[TopHatAssassin]

Buy them if you absolutely need them. I managed to get through my undergrad without buying terribly many textbooks, but it helps if you go to class and actually pay attention. You can usually get the gist of what the book/chapter/passage is about (at least I could). Come exam time, stick with the stuff you know and try to avoid the stuff you don't. Make up the rest. :D

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Also th efact there is only so many ways you can write the same set of facts.

But yeah, I would recommend avoid if possible, I never bought any textbooks and I did fine.

[Azisien]

I should mention I also did the same. Well, I bought books in my first year because I was naive about their usefulness. After that, I bought perhaps one textbook (an actual useful one) over the next four years. Saved thousands, lost nothing.

And to date I am still trying to get rid of those first year books.

[Nikose Tyris]

If you need textbooks from Pearson, check out pearsoned.com. They host information and review from every chapter on their website. Decide for yourself if this is all you will need for your particular course.

Odds are for the more basic math, this is all you will need. Business Law, not so much.

[Darth SS]

Oh man, y'know what's a horrible feeling?

Buying a used copy of a textbook, and it still costing 565. When that got rung up I visibly shuddered.

[Loyal]

...what the hell are you studying that a textbook costs five hundred sixty five dollars?!

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Oh man, y'know what's a horrible feeling?

Buying a used copy of a textbook, and it still costing 565. When that got rung up I visibly shuddered.

What? Getting publishers to print specifically for you doesn't even cost that much normally.

[BitVyper]

Darth prefers his textbooks printed on golden plates.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

They also contain the secrets of the east!

[krogothwolf]

I'm still hoping for the day SMB puts all his crazy ramblings in a college text book. That's one I would actually buy.

[Darth SS]

...what the hell are you studying that a textbook costs five hundred sixty five dollars?!

This was "Advanced econometrics and other applications in mathematical economics."

So...yeah. Basically the only textbook in existence on the subject, and the prof has decided that he doesn't really want to personally teach it so much as assign readings.

[Fifthfiend]

I was going to say "I bet it's an econ book, lol" but then I was like no, life can't be that perfectly fitting.

[Darth SS]

I was going to say "I bet it's an econ book, lol" but then I was like no, life can't be that perfectly fitting.

It's only my major, so...yeah.

Bring on the wit storm.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I'm still hoping for the day SMB puts all his crazy ramblings in a college text book. That's one I would actually buy.

It's most likely going to be the grand synthesis of Marxism and chemistry.v I tried to allude to it in some of my manuscripts but my super keeps nixing it.

[Fifthfiend]

It's only my major, so...yeah.

Bring on the wit storm.

"Hey I think I'll take 'Ripping people off = moral imperative' as my major."

"What look at the price of this book. RIP OFF! http://www.nuklearforums.com/images/icons/fffffflg.png"

...the textbook was five hundred dollars... and you paid five hundred dollars for it... therefore, the textbook was perfectly priced!

The free market in action!

[Darth SS]

"Hey I think I'll take 'Ripping people off = moral imperative' as my major."

"What look at the price of this book. RIP OFF! http://www.nuklearforums.com/images/icons/fffffflg.png"

...the textbook was five hundred dollars... and you paid five hundred dollars for it... therefore, the textbook was perfectly priced!

The free market in action!

It's nice to see that you have such a firm grip upon my field of study. And by "firm grip" I of course mean "anger towards CNN."

[Professor Smarmiarty]

If by CNN you mean chronic injustice and rampant inefficiency then yes!

Also guys in tophats with cigars!

[Fifthfiend]

It's nice to see that you have such a firm grip upon my field of study. And by "firm grip" I of course mean "anger towards CNN."

You know what I have a firm grip on?

This five hundred dollars and sixty dollars that I didn't have to spend on one, used, book. http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt148/fifthfiend/emoticons/smug.gif

I think I'll go buy a new phone. An Incredible or something, one of those really nice ones.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Just ran into this thread, and apparently, nobody remembers www.bookfinder.com

Despite the umpteen times I'm mentioned it.

Shows practically all the places on the web that are selling the book. Both new & used. But check the links, because prices can be a bit off (sometimes lower, sometimes a bit higher).

Also has links to places that rent the book (mostly http://www.bookrenter.com/), but the rental prices are never right. Just click the linkage.

Assuming the ISBN for the first book is right & it is Elementary Algebra, then you can rent it for 30 days for $37.97, 90 for $47.41 & 125 days for $54.19.

Buying it used, the best price I saw was 74.88 & that includes shipping.

[CelesJessa]

One of the nice things about being an art major is not (usually) having to buy ridiculously expensive text books.

On the flip side, I spend a ton on art supplies, and the program I use for 3D animation costs $3k-$4k. (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&expIds=17259,18167,25901,26440,26446,26512&sugexp=ldymls&tok=uPAkzseLhD-gALTwE62hig&xhr=t&q=buy+maya&cp=8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10199313784639653504&ei=-r-KTPPoJoK78gbhy5XPCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ8wIwAg#) But it's way cooler than a textbook, although there will be a new version of it in a year so... (thank god for free, fully functional student editions which the newest one doesn't work on my computer ffff.)

[BitVyper]

They also contain the secrets of the east!

After you finish studying them, you are functionally immortal.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

After you finish studying them, you are functionally immortal.

There can be only one

[Fifthfiend]

After you finish studying them, you are functionally immortal.

They're econ books, so strike the t and you're spot on.

[Darth SS]

They're econ books, so strike the t and you're spot on.

This may come as a jarring shock to you, but economics isn't a science which includes a chapter "How to be a hybrid of Hitler and Satan that shits out pure solidified malevolence." Maybe you got us mixed up with the "Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain" major at your local community college. Or maybe you're just trying to be a jack-ass, who knows?

Economics is the science which uses statistical models to attempt to figure out how people respond to the problem of scarcity; The world has limited resources. How do people choose to dedicate those resources towards certain products, and why do they choose to it in that way? The most efficient allocation of resources is not always the socially optimal dedication of resources, which then leads to the question once again how do people adjust to get closer to that social optimum.

So maybe your issue is more with the poor oversight standards that allowed the shoddy accounting that led to the economic meltdown. Or possibly the stubborn refusal of your government to respond to the zillion recommendations to alter those oversight standards, or the refusal of the private sector and the government to acknowledge the myriad of predictions of the coming financiapocalypse. Or maybe you just want to bitch.

[katiuska]

Man, you people. Our instructors this semester assigned us a good $1,100 worth of textbooks. Don't you talk to me about pain.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

This may come as a jarring shock to you, but economics isn't a science which includes a chapter "How to be a hybrid of Hitler and Satan that shits out pure solidified malevolence." Maybe you got us mixed up with the "Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain" major at your local community college. Or maybe you're just trying to be a jack-ass, who knows?

Economics is the science which uses statistical models to attempt to figure out how people respond to the problem of scarcity; The world has limited resources. How do people choose to dedicate those resources towards certain products, and why do they choose to it in that way? The most efficient allocation of resources is not always the socially optimal dedication of resources, which then leads to the question once again how do people adjust to get closer to that social optimum.

So maybe your issue is more with the poor oversight standards that allowed the shoddy accounting that led to the economic meltdown. Or possibly the stubborn refusal of your government to respond to the zillion recommendations to alter those oversight standards, or the refusal of the private sector and the government to acknowledge the myriad of predictions of the coming financiapocalypse. Or maybe you just want to bitch.

Or the fact that we are stuck wtih scarcity ecause the vast majority of economists live in fantasy lands that they think they can descrie with models that lead to widespread underdevelopment of infrastructure and technological uptake as well as narrowing of investment leading to a world so inefficient that it is both laughable and deeply deeply saddening.

There doesn't need to be scarcity (are anywhere near as much) if we don't model our world around isolated pockets of 1920s technology.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Or the fact that we are stuck wtih scarcity ecause the vast majority of economists live in fantasy lands that they think they can descrie with models that lead to widespread underdevelopment of infrastructure and technological uptake as well as narrowing of investment leading to a world so inefficient that it is both laughable and deeply deeply saddening.

There doesn't need to be scarcity (are anywhere near as much) if we don't model our world around isolated pockets of 1920s technology.

My understanding was that the majority actually advocated the opposite, the problem is that they weren't listened to. The people that were listened to, maybe. But you really shouldn't go lumping the entire profession in just because the people in charge chose the wrong portion of the population to ask about their problems.

[Nikose Tyris]

My understanding was that the majority actually advocated the opposite, the problem is that they weren't listened to. The people that were listened to, maybe. But you really shouldn't go lumping the entire profession in just because the people in charge chose the wrong portion of the population to ask about their problems.

You can take this paragraph and apply it to everything any time forever.

[Geminex]

Or the fact that we are stuck wtih scarcity ecause the vast majority of economists live in fantasy lands that they think they can descrie with models that lead to widespread underdevelopment of infrastructure and technological uptake as well as narrowing of investment leading to a world so inefficient that it is both laughable and deeply deeply saddening.

There doesn't need to be scarcity (are anywhere near as much) if we don't model our world around isolated pockets of 1920s technology.

Ok, see, this one interests me. How do errors in economic models result in unnecessary scarcity, or underdeveloped infrastructure? I'm pretty sure you're talking about the microeconomic market models in the former (would this be where, in your view, 1920s technology comes into it?), and referring to the neoclassical macroeconomic model in the latter...
But anyway. Mind elaborating?

[P-Sleazy]

you came in WAY late in the game to buy your text books cheaply off the websites you listed. Many colleges in the south/south-east start in mid-august so those kids have already picked the cream of the cheap in text books. I suggest for next semester, as soon as your prof lists the books you need, you go out onto Amazon or half or cheaptextbooks.com and buy them then. Although, for Spring semester it is always harder to come by cheaper books just because the prime-time to sell comes in December when kids get out of college. But for Fall Semester, you'll want to start buying in July.

[Darth SS]

Or the fact that we are stuck wtih scarcity ecause the vast majority of economists live in fantasy lands that they think they can descrie with models that lead to widespread underdevelopment of infrastructure and technological uptake as well as narrowing of investment leading to a world so inefficient that it is both laughable and deeply deeply saddening.

There doesn't need to be scarcity (are anywhere near as much) if we don't model our world around isolated pockets of 1920s technology.

No matter what you do, you are stuck with scarcity. The world is not infinite. This is what you're not getting, this is not a situation where economists waved a magic wand and made the world limited, the is now and has always been limited, as have our methods of production. Our methods of production may improve, but there is still only so much readily available for use.

As for the rest...You're wrong, is really the best way to say it. Please don't be a dink, and try to understand that just like any other science it adjusts how things are done along with advancements in the field over time. I.E. we don't use data from the 1920's anymore. This may come as a jarring shock, but we actually are capable of recreating models based on new data. Hence why since the 1920's, the 1950's and the 1970's the systems for international currency exchange have all been radically remade, and the models that describe how nations will handle their fiscal and foreign exchange policies changed accordingly.

Out of curiousity, do you get mad at physicists when you get a sunburn? "What the hell man, you totally shouldn't have organized sunlight in such a way that the energy transfer can cause tissue damage! Your entire profession is a bunch of hacks!"

[BitVyper]

Out of curiousity, do you get mad at physicists when you get a sunburn?

I didn't before, but now that I think about it....

HEY, SITHDARTH! Get your ass in here! You got some 'splainin to do!