One of my Hebrew books alone was $75, and some classes I need 5 books for, with each book averaging about $30. All together I spent just under $300 today.
I would have bought them online, because they’re sometimes cheaper, but I don’t have the actual cash. I charged all of my books today.
Books and prescriptions are (almost literally) the only things I ever spend my money on. I work hard, more hours than I’m required to, and then I go to buy books and find myself broke into the future yet again. It sucks.
Mr. Izz is going through this right now too. He had to spend almost $500 on his nursing books alone, and in the end, he’ll have spent almost as much on books as he spent for tuition. Plus, he has to buy all of his nursing supplies (scrubs, shoes, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, etc.) for his clinical work. It can be extremely prohibitive, especially when you don’t have a lot to begin with.
So I understand what you’re going through, Cran, and I sympathise They shouldn’t be so darn much, that’s for sure.
By some stroke of strange luck, I go to a college which does not charge tuition. We’re required to work to cover our tuition, but I also have to use my work money on my books (and prescriptions, those two things define my life, it seems). It’s so hard to scrape by that I have to get loans every semester. I’m an independent student (no parents to send me money every week–and some students here actually do have that), so that makes it worse.
What I have is all I have, and that’s debt! LOL. Sorry if I sound angry, cause I am angry. It’s so sad, but it’s true.
It does seem excessive, doesn’t it? And I’m wagering that you were able to get used copies for less than the new prices for many of them. I’ve got two kids in their second semesters of college right now, and the books required are usually in the $100-150 range new. It stinks!
Second-hand is the way to go. Some centres of learning organise textbook fairs, where last-year’s students can sell on their used textbooks to this-year’s students. If that’s not happening at your centre of learning, mention it to your Students Union, or find a busybody that will organise the thing (or organise it yourself).
It’s not perfect, especially when the teaching staff change and bring in a different set of textbooks. But it can ease the worst of it.
Mr. Izz told me that getting his textbooks used is difficult, because the school he is going to has a policy to change the books out every couple of years. It makes me angry because it would be so much nicer for those of us paying out of pocket to have the opportunity to buy used. Oh well…it’s only for 2 years
I buy my books on Amazon, mostly, and I’ve saved at least $200 every semester because of it. And it’s still too expensive. Ugh. I can sell them back to the bookstore for $5 each, though, so that makes it a little better. Really, if I weren’t so lazy, I’d sell them back on Amazon and make some money back.
The funny thing is, I was talking to this dude in my archaeology class the other day, and he said he hadn’t bought the book and wasn’t going to. I asked him why, and he said that he wouldn’t study it, anyway, so why buy it? I found this strangely logical?
I know you don’t have a job, so I wonder how do you afford them? Does your family buy them or do you have to get loans too? I’m just curious how it is for other people…because I go to a school where most everybody is unable to really afford them, but I know it’s not like that everywhere.
I’ve had a few classes that required books that cost over $100, and the teacher barely even use the book if at all Now that’s something to be angry at. There is a place, I’ll have to ask a friend cause I forgot the name of it, where you can get some textbooks for almost nothing.
I meant that I don’t have the actual money. I had to charge them, because I didn’t have the funds. Does that make more sense? Sometimes my English sucks.
Yeah, textbooks cost a lot compared to mundane books but back when I was a fine arts major (the first time I went to college) I used to envy the students who ONLY had to buy textbooks to get through a semester.
Fine arts majors (depending on the medium they focus in) are constantly buying (all semester long) paper, inks, paints, canvas, clay, what ever.
Most of the textbooks I’ve bought the past couple years (biology and language) aren’t just books. They’ve come with CDs and internet support as part of the bargain.
What I don’t understand is why you couldn’t charge them on the
Internet? I always use my credit card to buy things over the Internet.
That used to be called “charging”, maybe charging means something
else in this case?
Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t think it’s common these days for a
store to allow you to charge things without using some kind of
credit card. My school’s bookstore sure didn’t do that! That’s why
I was confused. All clear now.
They shouldn’t be so darn much, that’s for sure.
Now that’s something to be angry at. There is a place, I’ll have to ask a friend cause I forgot the name of it, where you can get some textbooks for almost nothing.