The cost of college textbooks.

• Natural Harmonia Gropius wrote on 2014-01-14 03:34

  Quote from Friggerton;1187645:

  Last semester I used coursesmart.com, which lets you rent e-books in periods of 6 months to more than a year. Not very expensive and certainly not a comprehensive selection, but it might help some.

  
  
  Doesn't work when the book is hand tailored specifically for the class, meaning there is no alternative. They seem to keep doing this for more and more classes, which pisses me off.
• Chockeh wrote on 2014-01-14 04:28
  I stopped buying most books on my second semester. Also, $300 is nothing.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2014-01-14 04:54
  mine can't even be pirated cause they have those online labs attached to the book.
• 800mans wrote on 2014-01-14 06:52
  Sigh 300 is lucky:(
  I'm averaging roughly 500/semester. I looked at my year 2 textbooks.
  In 6/6 courses, the average textbook cost was roughly in the upper 100s. Some textbooks even being 210$.
  
  How can a textbook cost 210?? Like 100 I can understand but 150+ makes me wonder?
  Anyways in Canada a common textbook is used for Calc I/II in a few well known (at least in canada) eastern (ontario) and western (british columbia) universities.
  
  Its called Stewart Calculus: Well the set costs 160/kid. Guess where the money Mr.Stewart made off us went to:
  
  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/02/04/the_house_that_math_built.html
  
  This guy sigh... Wat a guy sigh...
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-01-14 07:29
  This describes every college class I ever had.
  
  

  [Image: http://puu.sh/6ksrx.png]
• Aliyah wrote on 2014-01-14 08:22
  I personally prefer buying my books (used if possible) to renting because I can usually resell them and recoup some of the cost. That way they end up costing less than the rest price. One Math text that I bought used ended up auctioning for $20 more than I paid for it :3
• Splatulated wrote on 2014-01-14 20:53
  WHY can't the teacher lady sir use a PHOTOCOPIER IF YOU PAY THEM FOR THE PAPER and it's not 50000 pages
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-01-14 23:48

  Quote from Splatulated;1187940:

  WHY can't the teacher lady sir use a PHOTOCOPIER IF YOU PAY THEM FOR THE PAPER and it's not 50000 pages

  
  
  Because they aren't paid enough to give a fuck about you. College isn't highschool. If you don't have the book or sleep through class they couldn't care less.
• Splatulated wrote on 2014-01-14 23:56

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1188009:

  Because they aren't paid enough to give a fuck about you. College isn't highschool. If you don't have the book or sleep through class they couldn't care less.

  
  
  but :( what if you really care about the class but have the money for the books ?
• Airylin wrote on 2014-01-14 23:56
  My university is required to have a copy of the assigned book in the library because it makes sense to have the required books for easy access. They also have these giant x-ray photocopiers that use an over head scanner thing so you can photocopy virtually everything. Also all the copies are saved directly to any flashdrive or usb equipped hdd that you connect them to.
  
  People eventually put 2 and 2 together and started photocopying all the books to flashdrives and brought laptops to class instead.
• Airylin wrote on 2014-01-14 23:58

  Quote from Splatulated;1188017:

  but :( what if you really care about the class but have the money for the books ?

  
  
  Colleges don't care about you. They want your money and they want you to be there for as long as possible. Other than that they do not care about you at all.
• Natural Harmonia Gropius wrote on 2014-01-15 00:02

  Quote from Airylin;1188018:

  My university is required to have a copy of the assigned book in the library because it makes sense to have the required books for easy access. They also have these giant x-ray photocopiers that use an over head scanner thing so you can photocopy virtually everything. Also all the copies are saved directly to any flashdrive or usb equipped hdd that you connect them to.
  
  People eventually put 2 and 2 together and started photocopying all the books to flashdrives and brought laptops to class instead.

  
  
  The only issue is with the books tailored specifically for the class and the fact there is a code for some online learning site we are going to be using. Library doesn't have those. It's essentially their method of forcing you to buy an expensive as shit book.
• Airylin wrote on 2014-01-15 00:10

  Quote from Natural Harmonia Gropius;1188022:

  The only issue is with the books tailored specifically for the class and the fact there is a code for some online learning site we are going to be using. Library doesn't have those. It's essentially their method of forcing you to buy an expensive as shit book.

  
  
  Yeah I had that for 2 completely bs gen ed classes way back. The book was only opened once and that was to get the online code so I could do the homework which is worth 35% of my grade.
  
  That should be illegal but whatever.
  
  One way to tell if a professor is really good or not is if they don't care if you have the book or don't even require you to have the book. The best professor I ever had was a lawyer (law teacher) who used a train and 2 buses to commute to teach our class specifically. On the first day he went up on the podium and asked who bought the books.
  
  Several students raised their hands.
  
  "You better return that shit right now because we're not using them."
  
  Best class I ever had.
• Elleanior wrote on 2014-01-15 00:41

  Quote from Airylin;1188030:

  
  One way to tell if a professor is really good or not is if they don't care if you have the book or don't even require you to have the book. The best professor I ever had was a lawyer (law teacher) who used a train and 2 buses to commute to teach our class specifically. On the first day he went up on the podium and asked who bought the books.
  
  Several students raised their hands.
  
  "You better return that shit right now because we're not using them."
  
  Best class I ever had.

  
  
  That teacher. XD
  I'd enjoy the hell out of that class with a teacher like that.
• Chockeh wrote on 2014-01-15 01:23

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1188009:

  Because they aren't paid enough to give a fuck about you. College isn't highschool. If you don't have the book or sleep through class they couldn't care less.

  
  
  You might be able to if you ask, that's what I did for one of my business classes.
  According to one of my teachers in my engineering-oriented classes, they make about $90k-$120k.