Okay, Im in shock (not to mention broke)

[jdeckert]

I have to vent to you guys b/c Im sure you all have been there. LOL I just went to pick up all my books for my first semester of nursing school this morning. I had counted on maybe $200, $250 or so, $300 on the high end. When I got to the desk to check out, it rang up to...get this...$629.34!!!! I swear, I couldnt even hide the shock on my face. Two of my books cost me $165 a piece and my two lab books were $80 a piece. They didnt even have any used books to sell me b/c every one of my classes was using books in the newest edition and they were all new Its too late for me to order them used off Amazon b/c class starts in less than a week, plus shipping would probably be ridiculous anyways. And they are new editions so they wouldnt have used anyways, KWIM? I just cant believe it. Will every semester be like this??? If so, student loan office, here I come!

Thanks for letting me whine a bit. Dh is gonna kill me when he hears this story! YIKES!

Jillian

[Spazzy Nurse, RN]

I second what everyone else said...... many of your books will be used for several classes.

Some bookstores have "used areas" where the bookstore buys books back (for a FRACTION of what students originally payed for them) and the bookstore resells them. At my school they let everyone know when the buyback/resell dates would be. It was first-come-first-serve, but if you were lucky you could save quite a bit.

Is there maybe a bulletin board somewhere at your school? So many people start the nursing program and for one reason or another they have to quit, and are left with a bunch of expensive books that they want to well. Ask around. :)

Nursing school is hard financially, emotionally, mentally, physically, etc. etc. etc. But it's so worth it. Not only will you survive it, but you'll do great. Keep that chin up!!!

[Lausana]

Originally posted by MsPurp

I had to take my friend to the bookstore with me so she could help me carry them all.

Dontcha love the plastic bags they cram the books into that are slooowly stretching as you carry them...our bookstore is in the basement, so I really should have brought a dolly to get them up the stairs...:chuckle

I've had to spent about $600 so far...but if I added the rip-off prereqs books...OY school IS an investment.

[researchrabbit]

I've been a student a lot (no kidding, coulda been an MD or PhD or both by now if I just wanted degrees).

Here are my book-buying tactics, learned over 20 years of university experience...

If there are no used books and the class requires a LOT of books, it is not a bad idea to attend the first day of class and see what is the main book for the course, then BUY THAT ONE. Buy others as you need them (or not...). You will not be using 10 books on the first day of class!

If there are used books available, I buy them and then return them after the first class day if I think I won't need them (at some schools the return policy allows that -- if it doesn't, I look through them and decide what looks most important).

This also depends on what kind of student you are -- if you don't read quickly or don't have a lot of time, you will not get through all the books in a semester anyway, so use your critical thinking skills and buy only what you think you will need. You can always buy others later.

Of the "required" books for my RN degree, I only ever owned half of them, but the ones I had I used a lot. No wasted books, no wasted money.

Sometimes the discontinued books from the previous semester were good enough, and previous students would sell them cheaply as they couldn't get anything for them from the bookstore. This meant I couldn't rely on page numbers for the readings and would have to do topics instead.

If I needed the book for only one rotation, I'd borrow it from someone who had already had it (and I loaned the ones I had as well). If I couldn't borrow it, I waited until the rotation to buy it.

If I needed it for class, but the topic wasn't being covered yet, I'd wait until the week before the lecture to buy it. Mostly I didn't have time to study in advance (single working parent), so that worked well.

Our nursing lab had a copy of all the text books. You couldn't check them out but you could read them there, and when I was REALLY poor, that's what I did.

Some of my nursing books were given to me as Christmas or birthday presents from lovely friends and relatives...

Book prices are horrendous!

[emily_mom]

I also spent over $600 the first semester, but we've used the books every semester since. The only stuff I've had to buy is Nutrition or Patho books, which I buy off of half.com or bn.com. BN has free shipping if you buy 2 books, which is cool

Kristy

[Sarahstudent]

Here's a tid bit of info on text books. Many of the Phd's that write these books are alumni of some instructor who say's "Hmmm, I think I'll help my friend (the Phd) a get a couple hundred grand by using his/her text for my course. Every couple years they change they layout and cover page, and perhaps ammend a few minor details and call it a "New Edition". Yes the pages do change so it makes it difficult to follow in instructor who's using the new edition if you have an old edition. (insert: bad smell here)

[Sarahstudent]

On a side note I paid $1763 for my text for this fall.

(insert: rusty barbed wire in my but)