How much did your nursing books cost.

moonischasingme1 · Jun 29, 2006

I haven't bought my books yet, but I heard from others that first semester books + supplies is approximately $1,000, so it seems normal....and scary!

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 29, 2006

Check out ebay, amazon and half.com before paying retail. The deals are out there. I picked up Kozier's 7th edition Fundamentals of Nursing for $40 including s&h. Saved 50%. Also make sure you absolutely need the latest version of the text. For some books, it's apparently OK to use 1 (or more) editions back. This can save big bucks. The A&P book I used for I & II cost $10 including s&h and I aced both courses. Check with your school.

atrice, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2006

Mine are $1500 to start in the Fall but i have been buying them used online (ebay)....a few at a time.

AuntieRN · Jun 29, 2006

Half.com is another great place to buy textbooks. My gf got her med/surg book for half of what I paid for it. Hers was brand new in the package with CD and all just like mine and she did not have to waste the gas to go get it...I have also been able to find supplemental nursing books and stuff on overstock.com....my first semester the books alone cost me around 500.00 that is not including anything else I needed...If I may make a suggestion though...we bought all our books the first semester and never opened half of them...heck I am done in August and still have not even opened up one of them...I would just buy them on a "I need it now basis" if you can get away with it. I still had to buy 5 more books after that first semester....its crazy.

Medwynn · Jun 29, 2006

Didn't have the option in doing the online thing... i had to buy them pronto hehe..

But my first semester was 800 dollars for most of the books for the 2 year program. i believe we may have to spend an additional 200 dollars this fall for a psych book. So all in all it's about 1000 + 200 for supplies n stuff.

truern · Jun 30, 2006

You may find a lot of your "required" books aren't so required...some of mine were NEVER used.

Check with some of your upper classmates and see what books they actually used.

StudentNurseAbby · Jun 30, 2006

2 classes, 23 books....$1300.

NaomieRN · Jun 30, 2006

So far, I spent $219 buying from Amazon, that is 5 books, Fundamentals nursing by potter and perry (6th edition), Medical surgical nursing by brunner and suddarth's (10th edition), mosby nursing drug reference 2006 and Davis comprehensive handbook of laboratory and diagnostic tests and Nursing diagnosis handbook. A uide to planning care. I only need two more books, I am shopping around for the best price. I still need Drug calculations by Mulholland and Pharmacology and the nursing process by S, & Snyder, J. I dont plan to spend more than $100 for the 2 books.

My goal was not to spend $500 on books. I rather save so I can get the Palmone. Amazon, so far has been the best place for me. Half.com is second. With Amazon, there is usually more information about the books. I do not like books with highlighters, writings all over. One other thing I did not want to buy an older edition, simply because we are given pages to read ahead and I did not want to have a different edition to stress me out. I used older editions for A&P and Microbiology.

Good luck to all of you.

TRINI_RN · Jun 30, 2006

For the whole program(nursing classes only) its estimated at $800. For this first semester I spent about $115.

nrswnabee · Jun 30, 2006

i had been hesitant to buy books online because of horror stories i heard (and have been hearing about) --- i.e. book arrives late, wrong edition, bad copies of original, bad sellers etc. however, i did get one book (micro) last term for less than half the price at ebay.....i was so pleased with it. not only did the book arrive my doorstep ON TIME as promised, it was new, shrink-wrapped, with CD included and the pages were crisp and clean. the only defect was an eensie fraying on the cover which, to me, wasn't a tad bothersome.

from this experience, buying books online could be worthwhile BUT of course, it takes some patience (you'll watch and bid for 7 days then wait for delivery....) and research. (make sure you get the right edition, publisher and ISBN #. sometimes, a single title can come in different versions). i tend to shy away from "topsellers" who may be selling books online as a business (getting their merchandise in bulk from who-knows-where) in favor of other simple sellers (students?) who know the book they're selling and may have used it themselves. i find ebay to have more of the latter kind of sellers while amazon, to me, seems to have more of the other big seller types.

Dratz · Jun 30, 2006

Very normal.

I paid $1,300.00 last year for 14 required texts and 3 recommended texts. I ordered them online straight from the college and they arrived pronto to my front door. They smelled new and were delightfully all shiny and purty. Plus, they had everything attached including a zillion cd's. No one had marked up the pages with yellow highlighter.....I got to do that lol...and I used every single one of them a million times in the first year of nursing. I do not plan on selling any of em to anyone anytime soon. Some I used more than others but then I will use some of them much more during my second year. I too, almost fainted when I saw the price.....but for what it's worth, I loved having them come pronto, didn't have to fiddle around with Ebay, and I got ALL of them all at once so I could dive in and look at all the pictures lol One book I really am not looking forward to having to open again is "Community Health Nursing"....ugh...

Now I am sitting here just waiting for my year two book list so I can order them immediatley and start looking through them. Hopefully the list will not be quite as long as first year.

Just my thots