How much will books and supplies cost for Nursing School?

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I am so excited for October 5th to find out if I got in one of the Maricopa Community College Nursing Programs! Good luck to everyone else who is waiting! I am trying to get an idea of how much everything will cost. On the website it says $900. for the estimated cost for books but that seems extremely low to me. I am curious what everyone else has spent and if they have any advice. THANK YOU! :D

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Specializes in Dialysis.

For Pima community college, it's about the same.

Books $670-750

Scrubs $100

Steth $20-100

Shots,physical $15-200 depending on insurance

Insurance Your own, or $60/month for student health insurance.

I think that's about it.

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The trick I use to get an idea of book expenses:

Go to the college bookstore website and input the class for nursing using the current semester, NUR151, for Mesa CC it shows all the books needed for block 1, which add up to around 900-950 with optional books.

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Thank you guys for the posts! Wow that is so expensive!

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

the website price is accurate, however my school's bookstore had a box deal for all of the books at a discounted price. i think we saved about $150 or so. i had wanted to buy used to save more, but our instructors required the current editions of each book.

edited to add:

also remember that the books are used for all 4 blocks... so it breaks down to about $200 each block, which isn't so bad.

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I saved a ton of money by buying my books on amazon, also check Craig's list or the class that is graduating in Dec. and see if they are willing to sell their books.

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Thank you for all the information! fromthesea... you mentioned all the books required are for ALL four semesters not just the first semester? I was under the impression it would be 900. per semester. That makes a HUGE difference! Thanks :D

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If you look up books for NUR251 I think there is one or two additional books that were not included in NUR151, but that could just be because they didn't require those books at the time that students now in block 3 started in block 1.

I do believe they changed a lot of the required texts from the last semesters though, because I had bought previous editions on ebay for a few dollars each of the required texts from last year, and back then they were using potter & perry nursing fundamentals. (i bought them to study while waiting to get into ns, but mostly they just sit on the shelf *LOL*) I got almost all the required books at that time for about $60 from ebay buying the previous edition.

I have read from other posters that you might be able to buy previous editions of some books, check with your instructor.

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great info, Thanks! :)

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Yes, the books are about $900 for the entire program. My friend started block one at MCC this fall and she bought ALL of hers on Amazon for about $600-650. Plus the shipping is free :).

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I bought all the books on the required (and recommended) list, and I've used probably four or five of them. The books we use the most are the Lewis Med/Surg, the Lippincott book, definitely Fundamentals in Block 1, the drug guide, and the nursing diagnosis book. I may have briefly used my psych book (that will probably be used more in Block 4 though), and I think I've opened my Calculate with Confidence book twice - and I'm NOT a math person. I really haven't used any of the recommended books. And yes, in Block 3 they added 3 books. Peds, OB, and an IV drug book.

I bought most of my books through Amazon and/or eBay...a couple came from the bookstore. I think I've spent probably $800 or so.

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Thank you everyone for the advice! It is so nice to hear from people already in the program or who have graduated already. :D

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