Where do you all get textbooks from

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and do you rent? What is your preferred "retailer" for books and rentals and such?

Any reason to really keep the textbooks? I didn't keep any of my books for my bio degree and never saw a need for it. My first set of books I did a combo of ebooks, ebook rentals, amazon, amazon rental and bookstore rental. I won't know until after this semester what will be my preference.

Wondering what you all experienced. The bookstore at my school doesn't order enough for all students, they do have rental options for some and they give you the ISBN number so you can find it on your own. It was a pain in the derriere because funds are tight right now and I couldn't afford $1250 in textbooks. With the way I did it, I got by with just over $500 for 13 books.

Thanks for your input!!

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Specializes in CVICU.

Amazon. I don't rent as our books are used throughout all 4 semesters.

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I bought mine through Amazon as well. I bought one book that was $105 at the school bookstore. I found the same book brand new for $49.00 on Amazon. I also purchased 3 supplemental books. I had to buy everything out of pocket this semester, and pay for my classes as well. Hopefully they will accept me into this WIA program.

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I buy mine. The one I bought for this past semester I'll use from here on out. I like to be able to write in the books.

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Believe it or not, Walmart! I found out they sell textbooks online and their new texts are cheaper than Amazon's used ones a lot of the time. Our med-surg text which was $180+ through the bookstore, was around $145 (used) on Amazon and $105 (new) on Walmart's site! I watch for people selling stuff at the end of semesters as well. And I buy my texts...I would be a freak if I rented, worried all of the time that I would mess it up somehow LOL!

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

I buy off amazon.com and chegg.com if amazon is out. The to have very similar pricing, but chegg charges shipping where amazon usually doesn't. My fundamentals book was over $100 at the bookstore. $80 on amazon with free shipping and $75 on chegg with $6 shipping. Amazon was out of stock so I only paid $1 and change more for using chegg. Also Amazon usually charges taxes whereas chegg usually doesn't. Its all a matter checking my total after shipping and taxes on both sites and seeing which one is cheaper. Usually amazon.

Our books are used all 4 semester so by the time I'm done with them, they wont be worth much to sell. Also renting will come out to the same as buying after all the semesters from renewal costs. Better to just buy and not worry about highlighting in or ripping a page on accident and having to buy them anyway.

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Not from the school bookstore. Not ever. They mark everything up to full retail. Ooooooo I hate them. Amazon is pretty good. I have picked up a few things on craigslist and from bookbyte.com. I managed to get a cheap, International version of my micro text but I don't remember where it came from. It was the same text as the US edition with different covers.

One caveat - make sure you buy the correct ISBN number, otherwise you aren't getting the right book.

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Specializes in Neuro Intensive Care.

Amazon to buy, the bookhouse to rent.......

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Half.com. Cheaper than amazon, and buyer protection, cheaper than amazon in many cases, MUCH cheaper than school book stores.

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Yeah I am worried about them using the book for more than one semester. However, I am in an accelerated BSN program so my first semester is 26 credits and we will be continuing the classes for the semester, not longer i think. if we need them longer i will prob just have to buy them. thanks! i will def be looking into Wal-Mart!

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I buy mine from Amazon. Between work, school, and volunteering, I don't have time to spend hours researching the cheapest place for each particular book, so I just check the school bookstore and Amazon and go with whichever is cheaper. For now, it's been Amazon almost the whole time.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Our school, PGCC, finally got wise and started to match Amazon and any other retailer and then give 10% off that price. They were hardly selling any books because of the online retailers being much cheaper. I have eBooks. I purchased those directly from the publishers website. After adding the sale discount, I came out cheaper than Amazon. My school doesn't offer eBooks at this time. I checked the publisher websites daily to catch the sales. There were a couple of books that I had to purchase to carry to clinical. I didn't get the eBook version of those because some of the facilities we do clinicals at don't allow you to carry a phone or a tablet. Since you don't really know what facility you're going to from one semester to the next, I opted for the physical books. I supported my school bookstore on those books thanks to that price matching and the extra 10% off. We only have to buy one book for the next semester. The bookstore and Amazon have it for about $108. The eBook on the publisher's website is $71. I just love my eBooks :-)

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