Books are one of the biggest ripoffs, plus they keep updating the edition so you will get stuck with yours not being able to sell.

 

yeah i also stopped buying all my books after first semester. first time was like ~$550. every semester after that was like $100-200, depending on the classes.

 

textbooks rock

https://i.imgur.com/IiHE0.jpg

 

Towards my junior and senior year I purchased the online access codes without the books, and used the campus library or public library to check out the book.
Some textbooks could not be removed from the campus library, so i had to plan ahead and study early. Sometimes it got ugly when 5 students were fighting over one library copy. In the classes I took with friends we would share the cost of a book.

 

I rent them at CHEGG.COM seems like a better idea knowing exactly what you pay for them.

 

The cheapest way is to either rent them or buy the international edition from ebay or somewhere online. First semester freshman year was the only time I bought books from the campus bookstore and each book is usually $150-200. International editions, which have the same content but are softcover, generally cost $50. I got a used international version of one of my accounting books a couple of years ago for $7 when the bookstore wanted IIRC about $225.

 

Well maybe you have not had the ultimate in textbook fraud. For one of my poli-sci classes in college, the professor used his master thesis as the textbook. We had to go down to the campus copy center and pay $50 (to him) to buy his thesis was was utter horsesh*t and read it as if it were God's word.


The douchebag in question was Dave Sylvan. We had to study "Dave Sylvan's Theory of Potential Relevance" Cliff note of theory are as follows: For international relations purposes, don't crap on anybody because they are POTENTIALLY RELEVANT. You might want to crap on Swaziiland, but if they suddenly discover uranium WHAMMO! They have gone from irrelevant to relevant.

Wow. Genius. No freshman could have figured out that stuff on his own. We had to pay $50 straight to the teacher for it so he could line his own pockets.


I may have misspelled alot in that but I have the day off and am sipping brandy cokes in the sun right now.

 

Amazon or Ebay it the week before classes start, this is when price soar to all hell. If you want books super cheap theb buy them the week after classes have started.

I did it last semester with a chem book, prices were going over the bookstore retail online which was nearly 300, the the week after classes started I snagged it new for 100 even off ebay.

 

I bought at the campus book store my first year as well. never did that again.
A few tips ive picked up through the years

1. search internetz for PDF of book. you can sometimes find PDF's of the book randomly from another professors webpage, torrent site, etc.. ive found about 8-10 books this way

2. buy the ebook. they're usually ALOT cheaper

3. rent from the library.

These along with the aforementioned have helped a lot. Also, i usually try to "feel out" if the book is going to be needed.

 

Additionally, a lot of books are also offered in a "instructors edition" variant thats usually a lot cheaper. a few years ago when i took spanish the regular book was about $120. ended up buying the teachers edition for 7 bucks, and sold it back to the bookstore (who didnt notice it was a teachers edition) for 30 bucks.