Published Aug 15, 2013
jhsu54
1 Post
For the first semester, I am taking Informatics, Pathophysiology, Clinical Assessment, and Preparation for Clinical Practice.
I'm a little tight on money, so I was hoping if you had any advice on whether on suggesting to purchase or rent. The majority of nursing students advised me to purchase my med-surg textbook brand new. What about Pathophysiology, Informatics, or Patient Assessment textbooks? Would they be okay to rent out or would I need those txts later on down the road?
I just purchased calculations of drug dosages, and foundations of nursing.
Fin1216
16 Posts
I rented 9 of my books and bought 3. I am very tight on money right now too. I rented my textbooks on skyo.com, the books are in good condition and shipping is fast and free! Also, I dont know which books I will need/ want to keep, but skyo gives you the option to buy the book insyead of returning it, for the buyout price minus the rent price you already paid. I spent $200 for 9 books! Oh, and return shipping is free too. If you are short on funds, I recommend renting, and you can always buy it if you decide you want to keep it.
Amazon also rents textbooks too, and students get free 2 day shipping.
WoundedBird
190 Posts
I would buy the patho book new because it will help ensure that it's a current reference (my program requires within 5 years) for future assignments. The assessment book would be another one to buy to come back to throughout your education and beyond and could possibly be the previous edition.
I search the other buying options on amazon as a way to save money. I've gotten all of my new books for 25-50% cheaper than the amazon price and without any hassles so far.
Phlebluv28
4 Posts
I would like to suggest my two go-to places which are Craigslist and cheapest textbooks.com. The site gives you rent, buy and even resell options for a large number of online college textbook rent/buy websites all in one convenient location. Also, most of the featured sites offer the option to buy if you decide you want to keep the book. In example, I once purchased a book that was over $100 in my bookstore for $7 on this site and that included the shipping cost! Also, as a note, if you see a really good price on the site you may want to snag it quick I have seen $30 price changes and increases over the span of just a day or two.
Meeh619
222 Posts
I had the same question. I too am short on cash but I bought them all used except my 2014 mosbys drug reference. Here's the link it helped me a lot
https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/buy-rent-nursing-845363.html
I think I used bigwords.com & directtextbook most. I bought all my books (7) & easily saved like $250 compared to my school bookstore.
I'm glad I bought them & didn't rent cuz during orientation one of the teachers said we go back to them every semester.
I bought most of mine on amazon. They came in great shape, they looked new. I registered for prime which has 2 day free shipping on some books. I also applied for an amazon card & got $30 on my first purchase so that was a free book.
Try walmart I found my 2014 mosbys drug reference there for $25 brand new.
Hasting book store was cheap also on some.
I tried eBay but I kept getting outbidded lol is that even a word?! I didn't want to pay or bid more if I saw it cheaper on directtextbook.
Bigwords is good if you want to rent or buy it gives you both options & calculates all your books at once & gives you a total.
Good luck
2ndGenNurse
I purchased some of my books as e books which were significantly cheaper. For some classes I prefer a hard copy of the book but for others the ebook is just as sufficient and less expensive!
whealer
85 Posts
I use Amazon Kindle to rent/buy ebooks, which is definitely way cheaper. I also like using Amazon; they have been affordable and reliable with shipment. The remaining books I rent from Chegg.com. Some math books are available on Cengage... and that website gives you the option to purchase by the chapter, which I always liked. I also think they let you download the first one or two chapters for free.
PersistentNS
19 Posts
Try alibris.com. Many times if the latest edition is a couple years old, they'll have new and international edition for half the price they have on Amazon. I got my Fundamentals book for less than $50 brand new. It had the DVD and code too. If they don't have the latest edition, you can also find out if you can get a prior edition.