College textbooks...

[irmanator]

Ranting here.... Why do they wait till the last possible minute to list what books you will need? oh I know so you don't have time to get them anywhere but at there bookstore. My daughter has books they never even opened in class, and they will only give her a little amount back on them. They are publishing the list of required books on tuesday and classes start the next Monday. No way to get them on Ebay at that rate.

[disneysteve]

Who says you need to have the book in hand on day one? With the price of textbooks today, I think a lot of students wait to see if they will even need the textbook before spending the money, and then many go online to find them for less. There are even sites that let you rent textbooks.

[irmanator]

where can you rent texts? I have never heard of that.

Try telling my daughter that she doesnt need the books on day 1, She thinks she knows everything.

btw she is paying for them I just am helping her because she isn't familliar with ebay and I used to do a lot of Ebaying years ago. This is one place she is willing to admit i know something about.

[sweeps]

Another possibility is to borrow the textbook from the library -- typically by using interlibrary loan since it's rare that your local library will have the textbook. I was able to get textbooks for 3 of my MBA classes this way, and saved a good chunk of money.

[irmanator]

thanks thats a good idea. I never thought of that one.

[kork13]

I've used Chegg.com a couple times before, as have some friends. They charge anywhere from $5 to $50 to rent a book for a semester, then they pay postage for you to ship it back to them. I loved it, because I didn't have to worry about re-selling it for WAY less than I bought the books for. Example... I rented a $150 book from Chegg for $35. End of the course, I mailed it back. Others in my class sold it online, or back to the bookstore, and lost over 50% of their original cost. IMO, I had the much better deal.

[SacredFaerie]

A lot of teachers will want you to have the book by the first two weeks. Many assign homework out of the book during the first week. (At least some did while I was going to my local CC.)

[Angio333]

I have had teachers use and give assignments out of the textbook during the very first class. I have also had teachers strongly hint that the textbook was not needed. I also had teachers who insisted that the $250text book was mandatory, but I ended up never using it.

so it all depends on if you need it on day 1. I am currently going back to school, and I always make sure that I have the text books for the first day.

[cash330]

I have never needed a book on the first day of class. Usually if it's that important, they will email you or post something saying when you need it, but that rarely, if ever, happens. If you're that concerned, you could even email them before class just in case. Usually they can tell you how late you'll need it by. If you need it for homework, you could ask someone who has it if you could borrow it or work with them on the homework until you get your copy.
That is really late though, the textbook posting. I have had some post late, but usually they are posted as soon as a month ahead of time.

The book renting sounds interesting, I never heard of that. I have always sold my books on Amazon. I would never sell a book back to the bookstore because you never get much back. I've gotten as much as 85% back on the books I've purchases.

I prefer buying my textbooks used on amazon. I just bought books from Half.com for the first time this semester and didn't have such great experiences. The first 2 books arrived in horrible packaging. One was wrapped in brown paper that was torn revealing the book when I got it. The third hasn't arrived yet after 3 weeks. After two emails and a threat to file a claim, they finally replied saying they 'just got it from storage' when Half.com requires them to send it out within 3 days. I don't think I'll ever buy through them again. Then again, this is my last semester, so hopefully I'll never have to buy any more books.

[Pitman]

I hate when teachers say on the first day of class "For those who don't think we'll be using the textbook, you will be mistaken, I suggest you buy it right after class", then after the next two classes, we never use the darn book again.

[sweeps]

There were many times I never opened a textbook for a class. If the instructor taught everything you needed to know in class, there really was no need. Unfortunately you can't know that in advance unless you or a friend has had the instructor before and knows how he or she operates.