College Textbook Costs

[KSUViolet06]

I'm an English major so I end up having to buy alot of books. There was one semester I spent almost $500 on books for 5 classes because every class had at least 5-10 or more books each.

[shinerbock]

I averaged about 400 per sem undergrad, so while law school first year was about 750, that was for the entire year. Of course, with supplements it goes to about 800.

[OleMissGlitter]

Well since I was on the 6 year plan....each year was different since I changed my major so much. I would have to say that my final major which my degree is in, was the most expensive. (English). I had a bunch of professors who would only have our books at the local bookstore Sqaure Books and they mark their books up big time. They did this since Barnes & Noble owns our bookstore on campus and they wanted to support their local bookstore. I probably would spend about $500 a semester and when I would go to sell my books back I would maybe get $20 bucks. One time when I was returning a book they told me the value was 25 cents, I was like I'll keep that one!

Check out this article:
http://www.thedmonline.com
Then go down a little and you'll see something about textbooks....I am not good at linking their stories because they usually don't work

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by OleMissGlitter

Well since I was on the 6 year plan....each year was different since I changed my major so much. I would have to say that my final major which my degree is in, was the most expensive. (English). I had a bunch of professors who would only have our books at the local bookstore Sqaure Books and they mark their books up big time. They did this since Barnes & Noble owns our bookstore on campus and they wanted to support their local bookstore. I probably would spend about $500 a semester and when I would go to sell my books back I would maybe get $20 bucks. One time when I was returning a book they told me the value was 25 cents, I was like I'll keep that one!

Check out this article:
http://www.thedmonline.com
Then go down a little and you'll see something about textbooks....I am not good at linking their stories because they usually don't work

I hate when professors do things like that to make a point when it's detrimental to the students. We had the same issue with a copy shop that had been on campus and then was replaced with a FedEx/Kinkos. Copies for university member were 3.4 cents each at Kinkos and professors still insisted on using this guy's copy shop for their course packets.
It's all well and good that you're supporting the little guy but you're not letting us make that same choice!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

The high price of books was an issue when I was a student. Fortunately, professors and other students tried to alleviate the expense for the students.

When I was in school each professor made certain that his or her assigned books were either in the library or in the reserve room. You couldn't remove the books from the reserve room, but you could hold the books for two hours a day to read or photocopy.

Additionally, we had a free student run book exchange. Anyone who wanted could donate their used books, and then borrow used books for the semester. I forget all the specific details. I know they didn't have every book for every class, but they had the textbooks for the big lecture hall classes. I remember that the bookstore (B&N) hated it since it took away their profits. B&N paid a student about $15 to $35 for a used hardcover book and sold the same book for twice that the next semester. Students hated that so they started their own free book exchange.

My friends and I also used to share books and lend them to each other. One of my sisters and I were in the same class with about a dozen books on the list. We each bought six books and shared them.

[KSigkid]

With history as one of my majors, book costs were somewhat of an issue in undergrad, although to be fair my scholarships covered most of the costs. In law school, it's been a bit rough though (around $400 for this semester, around the same for next semester).