I will never complain about back to school shopping again

I hear you! When DD went to school to study construction management, we had to LEASE a laptop for $1500 per year for 2 years. We could not buy one. They wanted every computer to be exactly the same, with all the same engineering software. Yikes!

We did research and all the software cost did exceed the cost of the lease, but it was still a shocker.

Wow! That is a big chunk of change!

College textbooks are a racket. I always had a near heart attack checking out!

Ouch!

I have one word for you. Rent. Chegg, book renter, amazon, B&N. Especially for gen ed undergrad. Don't waste your money. Seriously.

THIS!! And don't get in a hurry to buy textbooks. Wait until after the first class. Often teachers have to put a book on the syllabus but they have no intention of using it. Or the student has to rearrange their schedule and the different section of the same class is using a different book.

Most of the time the course schedule will let you go to the first class then have time to order books after you know for sure you need them.

As a college prof, I agree with all of this. At the community college level in Florida, we are required to pick one required text for a class, but then can supplement with others. Many of us don't really use the "required" text, but have to put it on our syllabus any way. I frequently tell my Comp I students to take back the grammar handbook unless they just want it for a reference because that isn't what I focus on.

And if you want a real laugh, just have a meeting with textbook reps who are trying to tell you how the company makes no money on the book after the first year it is published, how the evil rental companies are hurting the publishers, that it is the students' fault that prices are so high because they resell their books . . . . 

It all depends where you're coming from. I paid more for the annual textbook rental cost for my incoming HS freshman D (at her PUBLIC high school) than I did for books for my rising junior daughter in college. Most public schools cover textbook costs, so you don't notice it, but textbooks are a racket whether it's elementary school, high school or college. I'm able to shop around and get used books, rentals, international editions and the like for my college daughter. We rarely have spent more than $250 in a semester for her books, and a couple semesters it's been quite a bit less than that (bless the professors who use older editions to save the kids money!). Now the various codes (Webassign, etc.) on top of the books drive me nuts.

I never knew how good I had it when the university I went to included the cost of textbook rental in their tuition. You took your schedule to the textbook library, stood in line for a few hours, and they handed you a stack of textbooks. End of semester, take them back. No money at all.

I'm going to cry when my dd starts college next year.

This is one thing I'm not looking forward to with my daughter, ugh! And I thought $250 as an education major was $$$ back in the day!


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I am a University prof. and they tell us what book is required and has to be included on the syllabus. But, I am not hung up on the edition which seems to change every two seconds. If the student finds a previous edition, I don't care if they use it for the class. Also, I view the text as a tool and resource not the holy grail. If the students find what they need to learn through alternative resources, more power to them.

Unfortunately this isn't always an option. DD is an Engineering major and many of her text books are just not available for rent or even as used. She also keeps some as reference material. Plus lab fees, the cost of the clicker, etc. Dang!

Thankfully we were able to rent everything (so far) this semester, for $103.00. That's four classes, one required book each. Plus she has her same Spanish book from last semester which alone cost us more than $103 (we bought it) but which can be used for four semesters. woot! 

I'm sure one of the professor will add something else, but mostly they don't. Dd isn't taking an English class this semester and it's been our experience so far that those profs are the ones who have long book lists and who add something mid-semester. lol