Average Book Costs

[mindfulgrad]

Greetings,

I have some questions for those who have already completed a year or two of grad school or who have some insight on book prices for grad students. I apologize in advance if they seem dumb or too numerous?

(While I know that price varies by class) What can one anticipate to spend annually on books for courses?

Are there instances where you need to buy books outside your courses to prepare things? When bugetting should one anticipate for that?

Are books generally purchased using your stipend? Small Loans?

Lastly and certainly not least, what are some sites that offer good deals on books? (or is there a thread that I missed that discusses this?)

Thanks In Advance

[UnlikelyGrad]

Greetings,

I have some questions for those who have already completed a year or two of grad school or who have some insight on book prices for grad students. I apologize in advance if they seem dumb or too numerous?

(While I know that price varies by class) What can one anticipate to spend annually on books for courses?

Are there instances where you need to buy books outside your courses to prepare things? When bugetting should one anticipate for that?

Are books generally purchased using your stipend? Small Loans?

Lastly and certainly not least, what are some sites that offer good deals on books? (or is there a thread that I missed that discusses this?)

Thanks In Advance

This may not be helpful to you since I'm in the physical sciences, but my textbook LIST prices have usually run $60 to $120 per book--$80 seems to be the median price. However, I never buy things at list price, so I think I've spent about $150/semester total.

The best way to save money on books is not to buy them!! In several of my grad classes, the book is used only rarely--and the prof puts a copy on reserve on the library for the times when it's needed.

For me, the best way to go about buying books is to (1) contact the prof a month or so before class starts; (2) ask what book is being used and how much it will be used; (3) if I need to buy, I buy online. The reason I start a month before class is that, if you wait until the beginning of the semester, book prices will be really high. The best times to buy are usually right after a semester ends or during the middle of summer.

I haven't needed to buy books outside my courses. On the rare occasions that I need a reference text, I borrow it--usually from the library, or sometimes from a helpful prof.

Hope this info is useful.

[thepoorstockinger]

I think that purchasing books outside your reading list is a necessity in the humanities. (Or it just might be that grad students in the humanities like to hoard books that aren't actually all that useful to them at the moment).

I think I spent about $300-$400 per course on average for my grad school books (10-12 books per class per semester seems to be the norm, sometimes less if the professor likes to rely on journal articles or if you can swing a lot of library borrowing). I probably spent around $1,000 above and beyond that amount over the last ten months on books I knew I just desperately *needed* to get my thesis done/know about but the library didn't have/is written by someone I like/was only $10 at a used bookstore/whatever.

www.biblio.com is by far the best online book seller both in terms of variety (it's something like 10,000 used book stores linked together online) and in terms of not being evil (i.e. it's not Amazon/Abe).

[StrangeLight]

in a history course, you will have 14-15 weeks of class. you will read one book per class per week. if the books are new, they're anywhere from $30-60 each. if they're used, you'll get 'em closer to $20 each. that's at your campus bookstore. but don't buy your books there. go on amazon and find used copies for $3 or $11 each. sometimes amazon itself has great deals, and then your shipping will be free. other times, the good prices are from third party bookstores and you'll have to pay $4 in shipping per store. even then, the added cost still saves you a lot compared to getting it all from the bookstore.

in my first semester, for two book-heavy seminars (my third class was all journal articles and book chapters), i spent $425 on books. that's with using amazon to get a $25 book for $5. so i'd say, even with the most resourceful shopping, you'll spend $200 on books per history course.

other fields read a lot less. history's known for being particularly reading-intensive. if you're taking poli sci or public policy courses, expect the reading load (and therefore the cost spent on books) to be a lot less.

but you don't want to buy your books anyway. don't do it. wait for the first week of class. the second you have that syllabus in your hot little hand, order all of the books through interlibrary loans. if you can only get the ILL for two weeks, then obviously just order each book two weeks before the discussion date. not only will you save yourself hundreds of dollars, because these books won't be collecting dust on your shelves, you'll force yourself to take really good notes. you can't just go pick up the book again in 3 weeks when you want to reference something, so you'll have to take detailed, useful notes on each reading. which will be perfect for your comps exams. start off doing it this way (ILLs, detailed notes) and you'll be cruising when you study for comps.

also, i don't know of anyone that takes out loans to buy books. usually just winds up on the credit card until you can afford to pay it down with your stipend.

and amazon can be as evil as it wants. if i get free shipping in 2 days, then i'll take it.

[Riotbeard]

I think that purchasing books outside your reading list is a necessity in the humanities. (Or it just might be that grad students in the humanities like to hoard books that aren't actually all that useful to them at the moment).

I think I spent about $300-$400 per course on average for my grad school books (10-12 books per class per semester seems to be the norm, sometimes less if the professor likes to rely on journal articles or if you can swing a lot of library borrowing). I probably spent around $1,000 above and beyond that amount over the last ten months on books I knew I just desperately *needed* to get my thesis done/know about but the library didn't have/is written by someone I like/was only $10 at a used bookstore/whatever.

www.biblio.com is by far the best online book seller both in terms of variety (it's something like 10,000 used book stores linked together online) and in terms of not being evil (i.e. it's not Amazon/Abe).

What's the problem with old Abe? I knew Biblio was abnormally nice, but I had not heard Abebooks was abnormally awful.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Riotbeard

[thepoorstockinger]

What's the problem with old Abe? I knew Biblio was abnormally nice, but I had not heard Abebooks was abnormally awful.

Abe is owned by Amazon. (It was bought out a few years ago)

If you have no beef with Amazon then feel free not to hold a grudge against Abe either.

[PastHistory]

Well, I just "amazon-ed" the books that have been assigned *so far* for my three history grad classes and the total came to around $600. That takes into account the fact that I already own several of the books that have been assigned (thank goodness!). I'm looking at about 13 or 14 books assigned per class. What did I get myself into?

I guess this is where the panic and impostor syndrome sets in!

[amercanist]

I think $500 per semester seems about right for 9 hours. I'd disagree with the poster who suggests you not buy your books. Unless it's a class I know I will never use the books again, I always purchase my books. Sometimes you'll get lucky and have a class where a prof uses a book that you have, most of the time they just sit on your shelf. Nevertheless, I cannot tell you how many trips to the library I saved by referencing a book I read in a previous class for a paper in another class. This is especially true with classes that have more of a theoretical emphasis as opposed to geographical. But to each his own, I mean if you're concerned about finances perhaps ILL is the best route.

**half.com has always worked for me, just allow plenty of time for shipping before the beginning of the semester.

Edited May 28, 2010 by amercanist

[chickadee21]

**half.com has always worked for me, just allow plenty of time for shipping before the beginning of the semester.

I like half.com a lot too. Also, for $25 a year you can become a Barnes and Noble member, and they just upped their membership perks to include 1-3 business days shipping with no minimum purchase required. So it's kinda like Amazon Prime but a lot cheaper. And you get coupons, which on history books (as long as they're not textbooks) you can actually use!

[rising_star]

I think that purchasing books outside your reading list is a necessity in the humanities. (Or it just might be that grad students in the humanities like to hoard books that aren't actually all that useful to them at the moment).

I definitely have to buy books outside my course reading lists and I'm in the social sciences. For example, I like owning the classics in my subdiscipline because I know I'll need to cite them for comps, even though I never had to read them for a course, and that I'll have/get to teach them as an instructor one day.

but you don't want to buy your books anyway. don't do it. wait for the first week of class. the second you have that syllabus in your hot little hand, order all of the books through interlibrary loans. if you can only get the ILL for two weeks, then obviously just order each book two weeks before the discussion date. not only will you save yourself hundreds of dollars, because these books won't be collecting dust on your shelves, you'll force yourself to take really good notes. you can't just go pick up the book again in 3 weeks when you want to reference something, so you'll have to take detailed, useful notes on each reading. which will be perfect for your comps exams. start off doing it this way (ILLs, detailed notes) and you'll be cruising when you study for comps.

also, i don't know of anyone that takes out loans to buy books. usually just winds up on the credit card until you can afford to pay it down with your stipend.

This can work well if you don't ever need to reference those books again. But, I find that I often have very little time to read books from week to week, end of skimming for seminar, and then returning to the book later if I need it for my research. If the class is totally outside your research area and subfields, then I would just ILL the book. And, here's something I haven't seen mentioned yet: you could share your books with a classmate. Maybe each of you buys half the list or does ILL for half the list then you swap. I've done this a few times in grad school and it's mostly worked out well.

I think $500 per semester seems about right for 9 hours. I'd disagree with the poster who suggests you not buy your books. Unless it's a class I know I will never use the books again, I always purchase my books. Sometimes you'll get lucky and have a class where a prof uses a book that you have, most of the time they just sit on your shelf. Nevertheless, I cannot tell you how many trips to the library I saved by referencing a book I read in a previous class for a paper in another class. This is especially true with classes that have more of a theoretical emphasis as opposed to geographical. But to each his own, I mean if you're concerned about finances perhaps ILL is the best route.

I probably spend about this on books, though less because sometimes I have article-based seminars. I also think the advice above is spot-on with my experience.

[StrangeLight]

regarding using ILL instead of buying them, i'd like to amend that a bit. i know people that use ILL, and then if they find the book is really useful theoretically or in terms of their subfield, THEN they buy the book. after they've read it. so the ones you're going to pick up again are on your shelf, and the ones you aren't... aren't.

for me, i bought the books beforehand. but i'd say over half the students in my class were ILLing and then buying the useful ones afterward, and it really worked for them.