Buy or Rent Nursing Textbooks

[Meeh619]

Hi,

I start my nursing program in August and wanted to know what is better renting or buying when it comes to the actual nursing textbooks? I usually rent my textbooks but one of the nurses that I work with says she regrets not keeping her books, so now I'm wondering if I should buy them to keep as reference for later.

Another nurse said she wished they had a rent option when she went to school because she just gave all that "money away." In other words she had no use for them after school.

So what have all of you done? I really like renting but I'm torn apart on what to do! Did any of you need your textbooks after you were done with your classes? Have any of you who are nurses already used your books to look something up for work? If so, which books are the best or the ones I would most likely want to buy and keep? I kept my Nutrition book but I rarely look at it. Maybe I will once classes start or maybe not, I don't know!!

Any advice or experiences welcomed.

Thanks!!

[StrawberryEssence81]

I'm in the process of buying my nursing textbooks. We have a list of about 10 books to buy, so I'm trying to look around for the best prices. I found a older version of my Fundamentals book for $5.00 as opposed to $146 for the brand new version at the bookstore. Both of the are the second edition...so I'll see how they compare.

[Philly_LPN_Girl, LPN]

My books came with my tuition But, if I had to pay out of pocket for them, I would have bought my med surg, fundamentals, and ati books for each book because I love to highlight and I could always go back to them. I would have rented everything else (mental health, maternity &peds), professional awareness, because my greeen saunders and ati books has all of the info plus practice tests.

[shortlilgirl02]

I didn't buy or rent any books in nursing school. We had to purchase ati, and each class session got notes, handouts, powerpoints, and so on. I filled in the blanks from ati, the lectures from our instructors, and google.

[HeartNursing3]

I bought all mine and sold most of them the day I passed NCLEX. The rest I threw away or donated. If I had to do it over, I would rent most. Some books we used every semester though, so it makes sense to buy... Usually the foundations book, med/surg book, and peds book.

[green34]

Oh, and I recommend Bigwords.com. Once you find out the ISBN number, just type it in there and it'll compare prices on the bigger search engines. Sometimes buying it through this method is a lot better than renting it. I usually buy the book if there is like a thirty dollar difference.

[ebinbrooklyn]

Renting seems like it's not that much of a cost saving - so for that reason and that reason alone I would buy so I could try and recoup some of the costs.

I usually try to speak to the previous class to see if there's any changes between editions and buy the previous edition if it's very similar (I've managed to get some of my books for $.99 that way). My classmates are very good at finding electronic copies of the book which means I have a new edition on my computer and a hard copy if I get tired of reading off a screen. For those I bought, I used half.com and saved a lot of money.

Also check w/ your school's library - mine has a decent percentage of our books on their website. If you don't mind using eBooks it's a great cost savings to use that as a resource.

[Meeh619]

Thanks everyone for the ideas!! I've been looking at the websites y'all have given!! I think I just need to get used to the prices lol.

My school has a book for $142 & the cheapest I found it was $99 but renting it on chegg is $40. But like some of u said I might need it throughout.

Wish I had my orientation so I can ask how it works. I know we don't buy them all at one time & I wish it was included in our tuition.

Again thanks everyone!!!!

[CDEWannaBe]

I'm still finishing prereqs but have saved thousands using www.chegg.com. They're a good company and making returning the books easy. For any book that you don't need for more than 1 semester, renting is way to go.

[Meeh619]

I'm still finishing prereqs but have saved thousands using www.chegg.com. They're a good company and making returning the books easy. For any book that you don't need for more than 1 semester renting is way to go.[/quote']

Try http://www.bookrenter.com they don't charge shipping at all. I usually go between chegg & them. Where ever I find it cheaper.

[Ninito]

You need your books to study for the CRNE. So don't "rent" your books.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

We used our books thru-out the entire program. Nursing classes build on each other, and you will find yourself referring back to stuff.

[besaangel, ASN, BSN, MSN, CNA, RN, APRN, NP]

I use Shop for Used Textbooks, New Textbooks, Rental Textbooks & eBooks: Direct Textbook because they search ebay, amazon, chegg, half, biblio etc... I have used previous editions sometimes and there really is very little difference but that does depend on the class. I'd also suggest asking the professor what they think; you'd be surprised to hear what you need or don't need.