How much do books cost you per semester?

[amyrae76]

Hi all!

Can you tell me about how much books cost you per semester of nursing school? I've heard they're very expensive, so I'd like to get a rough estimate.

Last night I started my first pre-req class (chemistry -- joy of joys), and the professor asked how many of us were there because we're going into nursing. When about 3/4 of the class raised their hands, he said, "You'd better be prepared to open your wallets!" Yikes! I know the actual program at my school will cost me about $20,000 for 2 years, and I'll get financial aid for that, but that doesn't include books.

I'm planning to quit my job and go to nursing school in the fall and I'm also getting married, so my boyfriend and I are trying to estimate what our expenses will be to make sure his salary can cover it all.

Thanks, everyone!

amy :)

[BSNfromMCN]

I agree with all the others. It's alot at first but gradually gets better. One thing that has saved me is buying older editions of some of them. Our bookstore has a sale 2 times a year of old texts that "aren't used" anymore for $4 for hardbacks and $2 for paperbacks. I have the old/"wrong" edition of my patho/pharm, med/surg, APA manual, A&P and Fundamentals text. The page #s are off a little and there might be different pictures, but I've done fine with them and saved about $300. It's a hassle sometimes to not be able to directly flip to the assigned pages for reading, but the extra few seconds it takes to figure it out is worth it to me. Check with your campus bookstores to see if they do this. I also got some from half.com and have had no problems with any of them. My classmates about killed me when I told them I spent $380 on the first semester and they all spent $650-700. My tightwad dad taught me well!

[essarge]

So far, I'm a junior and I average about $500 per semester. I've bought most of mine online because I refuse to give money to a store that only give you about 10% back when they buy them!! I instead find a student who is in the year behind me and give them the book for free. This has started a tradition in our school and some of the students (who cannot afford books) are able to continue in school. Perhaps your school has this available or want to start something like it?