College books are the biggest scams ever

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Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.

Seriously. I have spent hundreds of dollars on books for my pre-req classes, 90% of which were never even used by the professor.

You can never sell them back to the school because they are going with a new edition every semester.

Now they have started this thing where they are selling the most expensive books unbound. So you have to put them in a binder. They say it saves you money ($10) but you cant sell them back and the papers tear out so easily in the binder no one wants to buy them used.

It's really starting to irritate me, I wouldn't care if the books were actually used to fork over the money, but I will spend $200/book and then the professor wants us to print us hundreds of dollars of ink/paper printing out their notes/power points because they don't like the book. Um, what?!

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You would be even more angry if the first go around, you had paid $9 or $12 for a hardbound text printed on quality stock like I did when I went to college the first time. I will never get over the thought that any text is really worth at most $15, and not $189.

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Um, do not buy anything till you KNOW you need it. Ask previous class about that. Rent, share, copy chapters. Get ISBNs, use search engines, buy cheaper. Do not be afraid of school's "policies", they cannot can you out just for buying your books outside if it is not expressively written in your handbook, and I bet it is not.

Gosh, LPNs I know working in LTC are incredibly resourceful. If you can figure out how to use standard Foley as PEG and clean g-tube with Mountain Dew, you've got to find a way to share a chapter of a textbook.

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I feel you on the unbound books things. I had one for my computer class and it was annoying.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

Check out Cheggs, Halfprice Books, and good ol' Barnes & Nobles first!

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Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
Um, do not buy anything till you KNOW you need it. Ask previous class about that. Rent, share, copy chapters. Get ISBNs, use search engines, buy cheaper. Do not be afraid of school's "policies", they cannot can you out just for buying your books outside if it is not expressively written in your handbook, and I bet it is not.

Gosh, LPNs I know working in LTC are incredibly resourceful. If you can figure out how to use standard Foley as PEG and clean g-tube with Mountain Dew, you've got to find a way to share a chapter of a textbook.

Who uses Mountain Dew to clean a g-tube?!

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Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.

Yeah, I need to start looking into different options, this is getting ridiculous. I just always wanted to be prepared so I always buy the book a month before the class. Kinda regretting that now.

We have to buy some book for nursing clinical that is $1,000. My husband told me for that price it better work holidays and weekends for me when I graduate.

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That ridiculous. Wth!

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After my first semester in college I started to wait til until the first day of class to order or buy books or I would email the teacher directly asking which book we would need, if it was an important course.

The first time I had to buy an unbounded book I was furious. It was ridiculously priced and then I had to buy a binder for it. I've found that reselling books is easier to do through craigslist.

And ***, $1000 book for clinicals??? What is this book called?

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
Who uses Mountain Dew to clean a g-tube?!

An LTC we used to get patients from. I've heard about this particular trick more than once, from home health and LTC alike. Mountain Dew has pH of like 3.5 or so. Apparently, this acidic soda can dissolve clogs.

Sure there is no evidence and no best practices guidelines for that but apparently it works.

P.S. what is the book which cost $1000? Just wondering.

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I just finished having a conversation about how expensive my textbooks will be next semester -- crazy to see it as soon as I open AN.

I agree with the comment about using the ISBN number as well as emailing your professor in reference to use of textbooks, etc. Sometimes they'll inform you that the previous edition will suffice, which is often cheaper.

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Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.

I have NO idea what the book is. My advisor alerted me to it so I could be prepared to pay for it when I start in July. Apparently, it was a big shocker when your told in May that your starting in July that you need to buy the $1k before the first day so they are spreading the word before with those who are likely to be admitted the next round. My advisor is useless (that's for another thread) but she told me we use it straight through the clinical/classes for everything.

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