College text books

Drew found many of his on Amazon.com (used). Good luck.

Drew found many of his on Amazon.com (used). Good luck.

Do we need good luck because most of the books are in bad shape or because they're still $$ even though they're used, or both?

When Alex was our only one in college, we pointed him in the direction of the university bookstore, told him to buy new as a last resort, handed him the credit card, and hoped not to faint when we got the bill.

Now that Philippa is joining him, I think we need to get smarter about buying textbooks. Any suggestions on where to ferret out required reading on the cheap side?

If you're talking about actual textbooks, you're just screwed. (Can I say "screwed" on this board?) They're just expensive. Required reading, on the other hand, gives you some options.

I'm a connoisseur of used books. Try Amazon first (www.amazon.com). Look up the book like you would any other, and it will tell you if the marketplace sellers have used ones. I've bought used books for as little as $0.85 each. (Not textbooks, but novels.)

Another site: www.abebooks.com. If you're buying multiple books from either place, the trick is going to be minimizing the shipping costs. Try to find a common seller.

I'm not so good with eBay, but it would be worth a shot, too. Networking is good--I borrowed one set of books from a friend. Even so, I paid over $350 for texts. (One book alone cost $109, and I didn't even use it. They only paid me $30 in buy-back.)

Drew found many of his on Amazon.com (used). Good luck.

great idea...I'll file this away for future reference. Jeesh, at the rate technology is changing my kids may have virtual books! LOL

Where is Fyl going to school?

great idea...I'll file this away for future reference. Jeesh, at the rate technology is changing my kids may have virtual books! LOL

Where is Fyl going to school?

Purdue University and I think I'm more excited about it than she is. We spent the weekend at Purdue doing orientation and I hit the bookstore and bought all the Purdue logo clothing I could get my hands on. Fyl is fully kitted out with hat, sweats, tees, the works! (I admit I went a little overboard in my enthusiasm.) I almost bought a decal for the car that says "Purdue Mom" but I thought that would be a little obnoxious so I resisted the temptation. I am so glad my girl is going to a "name brand" school...I love a good logo. We're already a BoilerMaker family!

NoHall and Cheering those are some good leads. We've sent both of our children to private schools so I aready know about $100+ textbooks so I'm hoping to do better with university books. I figure there has to be a wider pool out there to buy from than we ever had in high school. Frankly, I'm weary of spending a second mortgage twice a year on books.

I've never heard of Purdue. Are you sure they require books?

I've never heard of Purdue. Are you sure they require books?

I'm going to bonk you one on the head when I see you next week, and then I'm going to sic Fyl on you. You'll be sorry!!!

Make sure that she will actually need the textbooks. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I saw books in the bookstore being listed as 'required', but they were rarely used. Sometimes the school library will have a copy or two of previous editions-the textbook business is a scam where they keep releasing new editions without much revision.

There are booksellers that sell used books who have set themselves up as a lower cost alternative to the "university" book store. I would do some online & campus searches.

Skunkape's suggestion about making sure you actually need the book is good. Sometimes you only need a couple chapters or pages - some profs were good about compiling the selected readings and you could purchase them through a campus printer.

Sharing texts w/ a friend is another option if it's a reference book, not a long read.

Might not be as much of a possibility in the fall, but we used to have dorm book sales and buy used textbooks from our fellow students who had just completed the course. This is also a way to recoup some $ on textbooks as the buy back prices from the Bookstore are insane.

Make sure that she will actually need the textbooks. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I saw books in the bookstore being listed as 'required', but they were rarely used. Sometimes the school library will have a copy or two of previous editions-the textbook business is a scam where they keep releasing new editions without much revision.

Good word, Skunky. Buddying up is good in this case, too...

Purdue University and I think I'm more excited about it than she is. We spent the weekend at Purdue doing orientation and I hit the bookstore and bought all the Purdue logo clothing I could get my hands on. Fyl is fully kitted out with hat, sweats, tees, the works! (I admit I went a little overboard in my enthusiasm.) I almost bought a decal for the car that says "Purdue Mom" but I thought that would be a little obnoxious so I resisted the temptation. I am so glad my girl is going to a "name brand" school...I love a good logo. We're already a BoilerMaker family!

NoHall and Cheering those are some good leads. We've sent both of our children to private schools so I aready know about $100+ textbooks so I'm hoping to do better with university books. I figure there has to be a wider pool out there to buy from than we ever had in high school. Frankly, I'm weary of spending a second mortgage twice a year on books.

go boilers !

I've never heard of Purdue. Are you sure they require books?

:nono1: :nono1: bad kurt !

Make sure that she will actually need the textbooks. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I saw books in the bookstore being listed as 'required', but they were rarely used. Sometimes the school library will have a copy or two of previous editions-the textbook business is a scam where they keep releasing new editions without much revision.

amen skunky. nothing is worse than paying $$$$ for a textbook that the instructor doesn't even use !

...our book bills are usually around $400.00 a semester. My brilliant second child likes to bring them all the way back to Dallas and tell me he is selling them back. Way to go buckaroo...if you are selling them back, why are they here???? :angry:

Buying second hand is great if Pippi can actually look at the book and make sure it is not too messed up. I always looked for the used math book that had all the answers in it.

Can't wait to hear all the Pippi at Purdue stories! Thank you for leaving the Purdue Mom sticker at the bookstore. The ones that drive me batty are the..."My daughter and my money go to Texas Tech" :roll: The Annual Fund people sent me a Proud Mizzou Parent sticker and Steven pleaded with me to throw it away.

Purdue University and I think I'm more excited about it than she is. We spent the weekend at Purdue doing orientation and I hit the bookstore and bought all the Purdue logo clothing I could get my hands on. Fyl is fully kitted out with hat, sweats, tees, the works! (I admit I went a little overboard in my enthusiasm.) I almost bought a decal for the car that says "Purdue Mom" but I thought that would be a little obnoxious so I resisted the temptation. I am so glad my girl is going to a "name brand" school...I love a good logo. We're already a BoilerMaker family!

NoHall and Cheering those are some good leads. We've sent both of our children to private schools so I aready know about $100+ textbooks so I'm hoping to do better with university books. I figure there has to be a wider pool out there to buy from than we ever had in high school. Frankly, I'm weary of spending a second mortgage twice a year on books.

I remember that now....yea! not toooo far away from Mom and Dad.

Options for purchasing books: online, at the bookstore, borrowed copies and used the copy in the library.

The first semester my daughter's books were $867. She took a class that needed 15 books . The next semester she found many of hte books online and saved about $200. Books are a necessary evil.

half.com and overstock.com both have used textbooks for sale. I bought all of mine for about 60% off.

Y'all are amazing. I love the way SoWal looks after Mama's wallet!!

half.com and overstock.com both have used textbooks for sale. I bought all of mine for about 60% off.

What she said. I know a lot of people whose first line of defense is half.com for textbooks; I buy "regular" books there as well as buying used copies on Amazon.
Also, Skunky makes a point; there are times a required text is never used, but you often only find this out if you talk to someone who had the class previously.
When's the dorm room furnishing trip to Ikea?

What she said. I know a lot of people whose first line of defense is half.com for textbooks; I buy "regular" books there as well as buying used copies on Amazon.
Also, Skunky makes a point; there are times a required text is never used, but you often only find this out if you talk to someone who had the class previously.
When's the dorm room furnishing trip to Ikea?

You people are awesome. I didn't know about those sites...

When's the dorm room furnishing trip to Ikea?

Pea, this is so adorable. During Boiler Gold Rush week (orientation and early move-in for freshmen) Target and Wal-Mart open their stores at midnight and crank up the music for the kids and give them big discount cards and let 'em loose so they can buy stuff for their dorms.

I wanna be a college kid again.

BTW, Ikea is having a big sale now. I get regular torture-me e-mails from them and it's all I can do not to make a bee-line to Atlanta with Philippa for some funn shopping.

Pea, this is so adorable. During Boiler Gold Rush week (orientation and early move-in for freshmen) Target and Wal-Mart open their stores at midnight and crank up the music for the kids and give them big discount cards and let 'em loose so they can buy stuff for their dorms.

I wanna be a college kid again.

BTW, Ikea is having a big sale now. I get regular torture-me e-mails from them and it's all I can do not to make a bee-line to Atlanta with Philippa for some funn shopping.

Chicago has to be closer, isn't it? I could be convinced to meet you at the gigantic Ikea in Schaumburg... ;-)

Pea, this is so adorable. During Boiler Gold Rush week (orientation and early move-in for freshmen) Target and Wal-Mart open their stores at midnight and crank up the music for the kids and give them big discount cards and let 'em loose so they can buy stuff for their dorms.

I wanna be a college kid again.

BTW, Ikea is having a big sale now. I get regular torture-me e-mails from them and it's all I can do not to make a bee-line to Atlanta with Philippa for some funn shopping.

]
You can stay here! Come while it's still pool friendly weather!

Do we need good luck because most of the books are in bad shape or because they're still $$ even though they're used, or both?

Sorry, that was misleading wasn't it? No, we loved using Amazon. We saved alot of money and he had good books. They didn't always have everything he needed but we didn't mind getting one or 2 books from the college bookstore. One book was backordered and he used the library copy until it came in. Hopefully they'll have most of the books she needs. In undergrad he was able to use a few books from his sister. So that saved me a few $$ too.

Thanks to students ordering books online, our bookstore is not making as much money as anticipated in the budget, and that income is important to the bottom line. So, some dumba$$es decided on a March 1 deadline for faculty to submit our textbook selections for fall semester to the bookstore so that this info could be put on the bookstore website well in advance of fall semester. Their rationale was that it would make it more likely that students would order their books from us instead of Amazon. EXCUSE ME? I tried to explain that it makes it *easier* for students to order elsewhere because now they know the exact textbook well in advance. All they have to do is copy and paste the ISBN number from our website to Amazon (or wherever) and save a boatload of money. In our former system, students didn't know what texts were chosen by a prof until registration day (the day before the first day of classes), and thus didn't have time to order online unless they wanted to do without their texts at the beginning of the semester.

The people I tried to explain this to didn't get it.