# Is the bookstore at your university a ripoff?



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Do you still buy books there? How much do you spend on books per semester?


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## enfield (Sep 4, 2010)

supposedly the textbook dealers have armies of lobbyists that come to the schools to try to get the teachers to choose _their_ books (they use disgraceful tactics like banging on the office doors and hollering). and the teachers have to put up with interfacing with many levels of representatives pushing the expensive and unnecessary course materials until finally they won't deal with it anymore and succumb to picking whatever they are being told to pick.

i think more and more teachers are structuring the courses, where possible, to be less dependent on having a textbook. though. and online books and resources are helping with that.

last semester i spent $20.

this semester i spent $150 (i think i was conned. i didn't look into it). but one of them i can return but i already ripped a page so at this rate maybe not


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## Cam1 (Dec 4, 2011)

Yes. I hate how they change a few irrelevant things in the book and call it a new edition just so that we have to buy a new copy. As if school isn't expensive enough.

I go to the used bookstore on campus or buy them online if possible.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Sometimes the professor has their own particular reader, not a textbook. The good professors arrange for a off campus printer to make it. For instance my English professor is doing this and the book costs $20 versus $60 for the reader for my business class.


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## enfield (Sep 4, 2010)

at my high school most of the teachers used readers or packets (the packets were for math) that were put together by the teachers themselves or in collaboration with the department. only for like chemistry and calculus did we have textbooks. 

you know it seems like in the science textbooks started including more example problems. my calculus textbook said that was one of the changes throughout the editions - the addition of more practice problems and examples.

this makes it convenient for teachers, who can not only depend on it for instruction now, but assign our homework problems right out of the same book. at that point it is probably too tempting to go with the textbook that includes all those things, even if it is kind of expensive.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

enfield said:


> at my high school most of the teachers used readers or packets (the packets were for math) that were put together by the teachers themselves or in collaboration with the department. only for like chemistry and calculus did we have textbooks.
> 
> you know it seems like in the science textbooks started including more example problems. my calculus textbook said that was one of the changes throughout the editions - the addition of more practice problems and examples.
> 
> this makes it convenient for teachers, who can not only depend on it for instruction now, but assign our homework problems right out of the same book. at that point it is probably too tempting to go with the textbook that includes all those things, even if it is kind of expensive.


If they want to use a textbook, fine. But they should not use a custom made swamp only edition of the book. That way we can just buy it on amazon. And they should be more liberal about allowing the use of older editions. This semester my wallet is being raped by the bookstore because I have to buy all these damn custom made editions and the lazy students from the previous semesters are not selling on craigslist.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

Most of my required linguistics textbooks were not much more than $40. Phonetics was around $80. A lot of classes just used a reader, and some just had online reading/notes.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I guess it depends on the major.

This semester these are the prices for the books:

class 1: 2 books required.
$54 at bookstore for 1 of them and I can't find the reader anywhere else.
$55 from CL(craigslist) and it costs $91 at bookstore

class 2: $80 at bookstore for teacher made reader. Can't find on CL/amazon.

class 3: $150 at bookstore for custom made book. Can't find on CL/amazon.

class 4: 2 books required.
$25 on amazon for one of them
$20 from the mom and pop printing shop.

class 5: $50 from amazon.


On top of all this the bookstore is all out of the $150 book and won't have anymore for another 10 days. They were out of the $80 one too but someone must have returned one and I was able to snag it. I think about 40 or 50 people in that class do not have the book and the books won't be there for another 2 weeks.


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## .95596 (Aug 24, 2012)

Since I am on financial aid I get a book loan advance I can use towards purchasing books. Plus I get a 25% off employee discount, but not on rentals though 

Don't know how I'm gonna afford Grad school texts...


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

Two college programs -- for both of them, if buying from the bookstore, was looking at $400-600 per semester (and that was just the "required reading" -- "recommended reading" would have added to the bill). Totals were a bit less if a book carried over to another semester or class.

Yes, well-above my standard for "ripoff"


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## foe (Oct 10, 2010)

Absolutely yes. I order my book online unless the course requires a customized edition or brand new book.

I had two professors telling us not to buy the books that were required for the courses, instead they wanted us to take note on the slides and handouts.


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## musiclover55 (Feb 7, 2011)

Yes! I got my calculus book for $70 (brand new) on amazon and it's $200-300 at the bookstore.


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## Zeppelin (Jan 23, 2012)

I spend $300-$600 on books a quater. I can really only get them at the bookstore because my collehe comes out with new books every couple semesters.

Plus, I had to get these special pens for one of my classes, they were like $5.00 at the bookstore, and like $1.00 at Fred Myer. And i needed like 5 of them. It's a rip off. 


The bookstores rip you off. I spend a ton of money on books, and that dosen't include tuition, parking etc. it's crazy and makes no since to me.


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## lzzy (Nov 28, 2012)

It's alright; most teachers sell their books as textbooks which makes them pretty cheap (7-10€ for a 500 page book) but some sell them as full books (e.g. with a nice cover and lay out and blabla) which makes it a lot more expensive.

The books that I need aren't necessarily expensive, but in general it's not the cheapest bookstore.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

Yes, they are a ripoff. I've since stopped buying my books there, unless I absolutely have no choice. My mom had to drop a class because the books literally totaled around $500, just for that one class. I try to find my books online, or get e-books if possible. Half the time the books contain no information that isn't given in class, so I don't know why I even bother.


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## Jkate89 (Oct 17, 2012)

I spent $600 on books this year! It would have been more, if I didn't manage to find one second hand. It's horrible, some textbooks were $200, it's ridiculous.


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## Theking72 (Oct 26, 2012)

I despise the textbook publishers, so I don't feel bad about torrenting any of my textbooks I can find, or pooling money with a friend and scanning the book and posting it online


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## Dark Alchemist (Jul 10, 2011)

It was a major ripoff back in undergad. But here in graduate school most readings are online or pdf cd's.


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## linux individual (Sep 24, 2012)

Typically I buy books from other places like neebo(with coupon) and amazon or ebay because they are cheaper. I always went for used books but they looks quite new which is good. It Usually costs me $200/semester but then I sell them all at the end of the semester and get the money back (like $170 or so) to buy new books for the up coming semester.


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## monotonous (Feb 1, 2013)

if the course has online assignment i usually just buy new book because i need the code, otherwise i usually buy used books and sell them in the end of the semester, but sometimes i can't find used ones and i needed the book so i had to buy new books 

this semester i already spent $300+ because two courses need code, night school usually don't have this complicated grading bs, but winter they don't have too many night classes


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

Most definitely. Everything is so overpriced.

I buy from Amazon Marketplace, whenever possible.


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## ACCV93 (Sep 6, 2012)

YES. Bookstores at University's are designed to rip you off. It's quite simple.


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## kittenamos (Jun 23, 2011)

I either order or rent my textbooks online from someone. Waaaaay to expensive to buy from the university's bookstore.


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## lost91 (Oct 18, 2011)

Yes,yes and yes. I got ripped off so badly my first 2 semesters. I later on decided to look elsewhere at different bookstores in my area but still too expensive. I resorted to buying/renting them online for half the price with free shipping. I saved myself easily $150-$300 this semester just by buying them online


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I don't really like renting books cause you can't resell them later.


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## Thix (Jul 14, 2012)

Eventually I just stopped buying books for *most* of my classes because they weren't really necessary. Buy the ones where you have to do math/physics/whatever problems or the workbooks. Downloading the PowerPoints and/or taking notes on the stuff presented in class will usually get you ~90% of what you need to know. (From my experience, at least.)


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

I must buy mine very soon  The best thing is to be extremely prepared to borrow from the library or get a second-hand one if you don't want to buy the university (rip off) textbooks. 

In my experience, being under prepared means you'll typically buy from the university.


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## Puppet Master (Jan 1, 2012)

Yes and absolutely not. One of the college books I have I rented from the schools site due to the high cost and the other I picked up off Amazon for $13 where a rental would have been over $40.


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## Letmebe (Dec 17, 2012)

My average semester cost of books used to be around 400$, now thanks to my current degree it is closer to 15$ if any for books.

But in Graphic Design they still kill you with supplies, just spent 50$ on two silkscreens for a class and don't get me started on my costs per semester in supplies.

It is a ripoff, a known ripoff since the bookstore only allows you to sell back that 45$-350$ book for 10$ max then resells it for something like 25$-250$...
I remember my first and only time selling books back to the bookstore, I traded in 300$ worth of books for 15$ on a prepaid card.

I will never do that again.


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## Wurli (Sep 15, 2012)

I've probably spent around $200-300 on textbooks total over the course of my 4 years. What's my secret? I don't buy textbooks unless its absolutely necessary (i.e. class requires some online access code for online homework assignments). Have my grades suffered? Without question. 

But, the way I see it, I'd rather go this route than give even more money to The Man.


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## Forwhatiamworth (Mar 3, 2013)

YES!! Although, if you work at the bookstore you get a discount like 15 to 20%. But I buy ebook versions of my textbooks and read them on my ipad so that I am not carrying my laptop around all day. I save a ton of money doing this.


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## scorpion91 (Aug 21, 2011)

I only buy books at my univ bookstore if it is a custom wraped book or if it's a lab manual that's for the school. Other than that, I tend to get almost 95-97% of my books off textbooks.com, ebay, or half.com at far cheaper prices.


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

They tend to be a bit overpriced, for the most part. This semester i needed two books and one was actually more expensive on the Book depository vs uni book store, the other was cheaper by about $15. But I didn't want to wait for it to get here so I just bought it from the store.

for some reason I can never find significantly cheaper textbooks anywhere, this includes amazon, ebay, book depository. And if they are cheaper it's not by much.

My most expensive book I had to buy from the store was about $167, it was a pretty nice book but nearly $200 :|


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