College Textbook Scams! Please read!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I start TODAY at a local University to do my pre-reqs, and when I purchased my books this week I was floored to see how much they had went up (I thought) in 12 years since I have been in college.

When I was in college before, if I paid $50.00 for a book, it was steep...but everything that I was buying was $120, $150...My NON-NURSING books are over $500 for FOUR COURSES.

So, when I got home, I started doing a little online research by ISBN number (which will ALWAYS ensure you get the exact same book and edition).

Guess what? I wasn't crazy...the books at the college bookstore were DOUBLE about any price I found on the internet.:angryfire

Now, granted, I have always known that college bookstores were a little more expensive...this was mostly limited to 10 to 15% or so. To me it was worth the convenience. But DOUBLE???????

It's too close to class for me to order them online for this semester, but I have 6 semesters left, and they won't get another dime out of me.

My advice: SHOP EARLY AND SHOP AROUND!!! :coollook:

Specializes in OR Internship starting in Jan!!.

Yeah, the price of textbooks these days really sucks. I had to buy a programming book new because there was a new edition and it cost me $175. The very next semester, they released ANOTHER new edition and my book was work nothing! The sad part is that I hardly even used it.

It doesn't really surprise me when people don't shop around because sometimes it is just easier to get everything at once.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

Does anyone have any advice on how to study A & P? I truly hate Biology with a passion; therefore I need all the help that I can get. A&P and Micro are the only things standing between me and the nursing exams through distance learning.

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Im a freshman pre-nursing student and i dont have any of my books for school and today was my first day of college ive been trying to pray and ask God for help these websites have a been a lot of help i ask that you guys continue to pray for me and that i can have all my books by next week.

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I buy AAAALLLLLLLLL of my books through www.half.com it is through ebay but you don't need paypal and you don't bid. You just go to text books enter the ISBN and it brings up the exact same book from different sellers then you just buy it and your done. They are always WAY cheaper than the college. I have never ever had any problems with half.com, and I sell all of my used books there. I get double to triple what I would get if I did the book buy back at my college. My husband also goes to places like Goodwill to find newer text books, they usually only cost a few bucks, and then we list them on half to make a little extra money. I tell my classmates about buying from half b/c I always feel so bad when I hear them talk about how much they spent for books. I think it is ridiculous (sp) when the cost of your books is almost equal to the cost of your tuition. Anyway hope that helps!

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Case Management, also OR/OB.

I agree, Half.com is a great resource for cheapo books, just gotta watch out for the Edition #, make sure you're not getting 5th when you need the 6th. Also there is a place called www.books-to-go-.com. they can provide texts for a variety of states, so it depends on which state and school you go to. Just a little more info, to help out a struggling student. As I went thru this same scam (and make no mistake it is just that) a couple years ago in my Grad school. + the ungodly #or volume of books you're required, give a poor person a hernia or something. Hope this helped

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry.

You know what I hate almost as much as the original cost of buying the college textbooks??? The fact that if you go to seel them back and they only give you a few dollars for them. Then they go and resell the used books for only a little below the original cost....grrrrr. I might have to look into selling some of mine online instead. Although I'm keeping certain books to look back through later.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Why don't organise a student 2nd hand book exchange yourself? We did that in our UK university. WE just posted what we had on a board in the student rec.

Those about to take your course can purchase your books & you can get what you need from the next course you're going to do. In the end you hardly ever have to buy a book at full price. Of course some books are going to be course keepers but others are not & that's where you'll save $$$

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Turn around and sell em yourself on half.com instead of selling em back to the bookstore. I've made a fortune the last few weeks selling a bunch of books. I was able to turn that money around and buy, well, a couple of books anyway... better than the bookstore money.

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The problem I have is that I am getting a loan and my loan doesn't come in until a week after school starts so I am getting a book advance (which means that my school will give me some money to buy my books) but I could only buy them in the Univerisity bookstore. I know of a place that sells the used books cheaper but I can't go a week to class with no books.

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The problem I have is that I am getting a loan and my loan doesn't come in until a week after school starts so I am getting a book advance (which means that my school will give me some money to buy my books) but I could only buy them in the Univerisity bookstore. I know of a place that sells the used books cheaper but I can't go a week to class with no books.

Wow, I can't believe you get your loan so fast!! Ours aren't even mailed out until Sept. 22nd. I asked one time why they wait so dang long, and they gave me some lame excuse about how students would get their loan/grant money and stop going to classes, so they wait to give it to us. I was like, hey, if someone is that dumb, they are going to do it anyway, and besides, you can only do that once. And they would have to pay it back since it is a school loan. But whatever. Now I have to come up w/ the $$ upfront for all my uniforms and supplies, anything I can't charge to the school. Then in a month I will get all my money, when I don't have anything left to buy, even though I signed something that said, "I will only use the money for school supplies and related needs." Its so frustrating!!

~t

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NPR's (National Public Radio) Morning Addition program on July 25, 2006 did a story on just this very subject. It was very interesting:

"Book Costs Shock College Students, Families"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5580358

The cost of my books each semester have often exceeded the cost of my tuition and fees!

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Specializes in NA.

I would definitely check out ebay and Amazon.com. I purchased from both places this semester. I was able to get my book for a Technical Writing class, that retails $80, for $15. That was a great bargain. I found out after the start of the semester that I also needed another book, so I ordered through Amazon.com and got there 2 day delivery for $3 more...it should be here today. It is amazing to see the cost of books. My ANP book was $185...the most expensive one I had. Most generally run around $90 a piece plus the cost of workbooks and extra materials needed for the class. Can't we have bake sales or fundraisers at the school to offset the costs :idea: ?

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