To rent or not to rent?

zoey88 · Jul 15, 2011

I was told by my professor to purchase our books because we will be using certain books especially med surg for more than 1 semester & we can use them later on for reference since the courses build upon each other. i spent alot of money on my books hopefully they're worth it =/.

FLDoula · Jul 15, 2011

Same as with Zoey88. We were advised to do what we want but we will use some of those books for more than 1 semester and may want to keep others. My Nutrition prof last semester told us to keep our book as we will use it during nursing classes. Our school offers a box set for purchase (like 17 books & online codes) of most of the books we need for the whole program except Nurse Squared, OB/Peds, Advanced Psych, and the 3 reference books. That box set comes with ebooks for 5 textbooks so I can also download the books to both my laptop and ipad. It ends up being a good price for what you get and actually cheaper than purchasing all that separate. Such a deal!

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jul 15, 2011

I buddied up with a friend who's a year ahead of me in the program... she "hand-me-downs" her books when she's done with them, and then I "hand them back up" when she needs them for a subsequent class. I'm in Med-Surg I right now, using her book, and next semester when she needs it for Med-Surg II, I'll be done with it, etc.

patiently-waiting · Jul 15, 2011

brillohead that sounds like a good idea wish i knew some one i could do that with , but i decided to just buy my books on amazon cheaper than my school of course but i figured ill get good use out of them and ill have them to refer back to over the next couple of years , but i did spend a lot of money bur with all those books i knew i would.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2011

When I was in college renting wasn't an available option. If it had been I would've done it. Now that I'm in nursing school a decade later, which although a BSN program it's not really college to me, I haven't yet rented because I didn't want to fill out the online form, lol. I'm going to do that for this fall though because I don't keep or want to keep any of my books, and I never get what I want for them selling them back.

BelleNscrubs04 · Jul 16, 2011

We were advised to buy because we would be using them multiple semesters, need them for reference, and to study for NCLEX. I think Brillohead's idea would be perfect if you know someone well that you could do that with.

caliotter3 · Jul 17, 2011

I also came from the generation before renting. Selling your books to upcoming students was the norm, especially for prereq courses. Some students made quite a little package by including their good notes and note cards, old tests and quizzes if they had them, and other goodies. It used to be a good thing to get together with a good student so that you could get good material.

LuLutheClown · Jul 17, 2011

I always rented my books in pre-reqs, as well. Finances forced me to rent again during my first semester. I have chosen to rent again. I may have to re-rent one or two of the text again in third semester. But, the savings will still be there. Or, I could buy used the books that were required for first and third semesters at a much cheaper price as the editions will be older.

All I am saying is.......if you feel that money is an issue, don't be fearful of renting. My studies have not suffered at all.

Good luck to you. :clown:

pyroandbozzt · Jul 17, 2011

I've found I reuse books like Fundamentals, Pharmacology, Assessment textbooks.

Books I haven't reused: stuff like health promotion etc etc.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2011

I haven't reused any of them in school because there are so many readily available versions of electronic information. Heck, I sometimes sit in class verifying some of the things I'm hearing in lecture with e-sources, lol.

newnursejoan · Jul 18, 2011

I would strongly suggest you buy any books for your core nursing subjects. Sure for any electives your program requires, renting may be a good option. You will however need to refer to these core textbooks throughout your academic career as a nursing student. :lol2: