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:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry.

The only problem I have with being able to shop around to order them online (like I did this semester) is that many times, the courses don't post the books that they require you to have far enough in advance to be able to order them elsewhere. That really annoys me! I was able to order online for 3 of my 4 nursing courses for this fall semester, but the one class still has not posted what books they are wanting us to have!! There is only 5 more days till classes start!!! Crossing fingers that they are using some of the texts that they've already had us purchase during other courses that we haven't fully used yet. The first semester into the nursing program I spend around $1200 just in book!! And I did try to shop around for lower prices. Just ridiculous! Personally, our campus bookstore generally isn't too far over what the normal retail price is for the books. So I think your campus is definately working a bit of a scam if they re that far beyond the price they should be. But shopping online allows you to get books that are used at a much lower cost, generally. Just hard to know how bad off the condition of the book might be with getting it online. I figure, as long as the book has all of it's pages and can be read, I don't care about the condition....LOL.

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Amazon often has 2 day delivery available.....Otherwise ask around to see if anyone from a prior semester would loan you the book while you are waiting for yours to arrive.

I was able to borrow 3 books from nurses at work for my first semester which starts next week.

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maryshome8,

welcome to what I like to call "THE TEXTBOOK TANGLE"

Since I found the "discounted" sites online, I will NEVER pay full price for a textbook again. I've had to muscle and sweet talk a few bookstores clerks who wouldn't give me the ISBN number, but I always get it in the end.

http://www.half.com

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I went to college about 10 years ago, and like you said, the expensive books were 50.00 ( for the big fatty science books). I was absolutly amazed when I saw that most books were around 100 +. Unfortunatly I have not been able to find new editions anywhere for that much cheaper. Sure I can find the last edition for almost nothing and that is what I usually do - but I really think that is how much the prices have gone up.

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Book prices are crazy, I agree!!

Unfortunately, our college does not post the books we need until a few weeks before they start. I do always check online though and sometimes I will find books that are cheaper and other time I don't...just depends, on the book.

I agree though...ALWAYS check the internet!

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Specializes in EMS, ortho/post-op.

The best way to find the cheapest price is www.fetchbook.info You put in the title, author, or ISBN and it pulls up all the available copies of the book, listing them in order from the cheapest. Most of the cheapest are listed on ebay and tend to shoot up in price if it's a popular book, but you can usually find them much cheaper than the bookstore.

Christina

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I also hate the overpriced college textbooks. :angryfire Why does a math book have to cost $180? (Which was the actual price for my statistics book.) I also don't like the fact that many publishers seem to come out with new editions every 2 years, which forces us to buy new books. I'm glad that I just recently found out about websites that offer better prices than the college bookstores, In the past, I've noticed that many of the books I've bought have come wrapped with "extras" ( i.e. CD-ROMs, solution manuals) that the college bookstore claims that are needed for the classes (which increases the price of the books), but I've never ended up using. From now on, I am going to check with the professor to find out if she or he is going to use those extras in the class before buying the books, and to find out if an older edition will be acceptable.

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Specializes in Surgical.
http://www.bestwebbuys.com has a section for books too... you punch in the ISBN (or title) and it will tell you several places you can buy it the cheapest including shipping.
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I am still shocked by all my classmates who purchased ALL of their books from the bookstore, brand new, usually at more than listed on amazon, instead of shopping around.

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Unfortunately, I had to purchase all my books at our bookstore. I charge them to the school, and they use my financial aide to pay for it. I don't have the money to buy them online, even though it would be a lot better. Its really cool that you guys can, though. I know a lot of people that save money that way.

~T

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
I am still shocked by all my classmates who purchased ALL of their books from the bookstore, brand new, usually at more than listed on amazon, instead of shopping around.

Some of us barely had time to get other supplies together, never mind shopping online....and my school didn't release the booklist with ISBN #s until 2 weeks before school. Hardly time to do the discount shopping routine. And I am about the cheapest penny-pincher you've ever seen; I just chose not to think too hard about it!! We did get told about a book we "should" have so that one I did purchase online last night since I don't need it right way.

Luckily for us, we have been told that a lot of these books will sustain us through all 4 semesters. That made it slightly less painful for me!!

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