Now I'm A Believer
#11
After 3 years of college my son has only had to buy 1 book from the bookstore. He has purchased all the rest from Amazon and has not had any problems. Then he sells the ones he doesn't want to keep on Craigslist. It has saved us a lot of money! My daughter starts college this fall and we will do the same thing for her - as soon as they post which books she needs.
We bought his sheets & things like that from Overstock.com.
Good luck!
We bought his sheets & things like that from Overstock.com.
Good luck!
#12
Originally Posted by Alu_Rathbone
I don't want to have to pay a fortune for the books, but if I need to I will... But I'm going to save money were I can...
The most expensive things I need to buy are:
Laptop
Mini Fridge
Text Books
Microsoft Office home and student
We were told that the computer labs are hard to get into, cause they are constantly packed, so we are better off just going with our own computer...
PLUS! The school gives us the option of ordering our sheets and other bedding through them... and the price for their largest package is pretty good, considering that if you purchased the stuff on that list at a store, you'd spend much much more... I did a study after I got the mailing! But I have till august 10th to order... so I hope I get the money for that... I'm working on it!
The most expensive things I need to buy are:
Laptop
Mini Fridge
Text Books
Microsoft Office home and student
We were told that the computer labs are hard to get into, cause they are constantly packed, so we are better off just going with our own computer...
PLUS! The school gives us the option of ordering our sheets and other bedding through them... and the price for their largest package is pretty good, considering that if you purchased the stuff on that list at a store, you'd spend much much more... I did a study after I got the mailing! But I have till august 10th to order... so I hope I get the money for that... I'm working on it!
#13
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: At the beach, drinking a mojito
Posts: 1,743
Originally Posted by Pam
My son's school, Eastern Illinois RENTS books to the studends each semester! A flat fee, no matter how many books. What a novel concept, a school looking out for the student instead of trying to rip them off at the book store! Can you tell that over priced texts are my pet peeve?
And I'm doing another survey of cost for all items... Like for my computer, I'm looking at the clearance section on Best Buy and looking at school discounts and what not.
For the other things, I'm looking around. Mom and I would have started preparing for this last year, had we known I was going to get in! Thats okay though!
#14
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Posts: 44
I have 2 kids that just graduated from college in May (yeah). I found a place that rents books by the semester. The website is
www.chegg.com. I think I saved around $1000 for the 2 years that we rented books. It may be worth it to check them out. They were buying the books from the bookstore and at the end of the semester selling them back but were either getting very minimal money back or the professor were changing books the next semester and the bookstore would not back them back.
Also you said you needed to get some Microsoft software. You should check with the bookstore or technology department. You should be able to buy that software for $20 or so. Microsoft has some kind of deal with the colleges.
Good luck with the book buying and with college in general.
www.chegg.com. I think I saved around $1000 for the 2 years that we rented books. It may be worth it to check them out. They were buying the books from the bookstore and at the end of the semester selling them back but were either getting very minimal money back or the professor were changing books the next semester and the bookstore would not back them back.
Also you said you needed to get some Microsoft software. You should check with the bookstore or technology department. You should be able to buy that software for $20 or so. Microsoft has some kind of deal with the colleges.
Good luck with the book buying and with college in general.
#15
Sometimes you can get away with using the previous edition of a book since they rarely change much. I know I did that with classes like psychology and such. You can buy a prior edition sometimes for as little as a few bucks.
#16
As a teacher, I buy most of my software from journeyed.com
They give GREAT discounts to higher education students if you can prove you are attending classes.
I am taking some distance learning courses and found most of my books on half.com and cheapestbooks.com. Otherwise, I would have had to pay WAY too much at the college bookstore.
They give GREAT discounts to higher education students if you can prove you are attending classes.
I am taking some distance learning courses and found most of my books on half.com and cheapestbooks.com. Otherwise, I would have had to pay WAY too much at the college bookstore.
#17
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: At the beach, drinking a mojito
Posts: 1,743
Originally Posted by brighmet
I have 2 kids that just graduated from college in May (yeah). I found a place that rents books by the semester. The website is
www.chegg.com. I think I saved around $1000 for the 2 years that we rented books. It may be worth it to check them out. They were buying the books from the bookstore and at the end of the semester selling them back but were either getting very minimal money back or the professor were changing books the next semester and the bookstore would not back them back.
Also you said you needed to get some Microsoft software. You should check with the bookstore or technology department. You should be able to buy that software for $20 or so. Microsoft has some kind of deal with the colleges.
Good luck with the book buying and with college in general.
www.chegg.com. I think I saved around $1000 for the 2 years that we rented books. It may be worth it to check them out. They were buying the books from the bookstore and at the end of the semester selling them back but were either getting very minimal money back or the professor were changing books the next semester and the bookstore would not back them back.
Also you said you needed to get some Microsoft software. You should check with the bookstore or technology department. You should be able to buy that software for $20 or so. Microsoft has some kind of deal with the colleges.
Good luck with the book buying and with college in general.
Thanks!
#18
I got a refurbished Dell Inspirion for 399.00 on the dell website. It is loaded has all the dings and whistles in it. You might want to check that out. there's a whole list of different styles of dell at the whare house sight where things have either been sent back or never picked up.
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Outer Space
Posts: 9,319
Just be careful with used books. I used to buy them used but only if I could handle them and look through them beforehand. We had used book sales and swaps through UCD. Sometimes people get so crazy with highlighting and notes etc. the books become too hard to read!
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