I just dropped over $500 for textbooks...ask me anything.

[Endangered Specie]

The bank of Endangered Specie is officially closed.

[trotsky]

1. Good grief.

I was in college just 11 years ago and I think the most I paid for a semester's worth of books was $250. And I thought I was getting ripped off back then!

That's just plain outrageous.

[Endangered Specie]

2. Engineering texts are the most expensive...

I think its a tradition to charge heavy and insist on new editions each year.

[trotsky]

7. I was a Physics major.

Very similar. New edition every year, but does the content of college physics courses ever change? Of course not. Introductory-to-intermediate Quantum Mechanics is barely different than when the theory was first postulated. In fact, during my semester at grad school, the QM prof took an old QM book with an expired copyright, photocopied it, paid to have it bound, and charged us $5 for a copy (to cover his expenses). I coulda kissed him.

[Endangered Specie]

8. Wow, thats a good prof...

science people tend to be better about trying to help their students financially... Engineering people love to rip you off like wallpaper.

[Onlooker]

3. Have you learned anything from them yet?

Did you flip through them and see an interesting table, photo, or highlighted piece of text?

[Endangered Specie]

4. They are wrapped in celufane(sp)...

If I unwrap them I can't return them, prof's are known for ordering the wrong books and students are known for changing classes.

Well... all except one actually... Some neat stuff on how to make plastics and fibers (Material Engineering)


They sure as hell are heavy motherfuckers.

[JVS]

5. cellophane in case you want to know

[Endangered Specie]

6. Actually Ill be learning about it this semester...

so I will need to know how to spell it ;)

[calico1]

9. Ouch, that is steep!

How many books did you get for $500?

[Endangered Specie]

10. Five

ranging from 85 to 120 a piece.

[Bjornsdotter]

11. I feel for you..

....my kids are in high school and that's how much I'm paying for their books. I was able to search around online and get a few of the books a bit cheaper.

Cheers,
Kim :toast:

[Endangered Specie]

12. Thanks...

wonder what book prices will be like when I have kids and they go to college :shrug:

[Bogus W Potus]

13. Did you check online?

BarnesandNoble.com and Half.com both offer excellent deals on used textbooks. You can save up to 70% sometimes.

[calico1]

14. When I was going to college

(I graduated in 1983) I paid between $40-$65 per textbook for a major in Accounting. All the accounting textbooks of course were the higher priced ones. I don't know if this practice still exists now (I suspect it does) but what they would do every semester is alter the edition just so--just a minor tweak--but enough to tell new students they needed to get the new edition. So there was very little of borrowing a book or being able to buy an older edition. At most you could do it for one semester. It was a real rip off most of us thought. And it isn't even like you can keep the book and use it as reference if things changed a lot. For example, the year I took tax accounting I got an "A." Just after the whole tax code was changed so everything I had learned was pretty much obsolete. But I was still out about $50 for the book! :(