Books!

[citychild]

I am going bonkers being able to afford books. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship that allowed me to cover my MSW educational tuition/fee expenses without taking out grad plus loans at a modestly expensive school. I'm having a good time and love my school, but refuse to take out a grad plus loan for books... and books only.

Most of my books have been on reserve and I've been using those. But one of the books in that class has been especially stubborn and that book is knocking on $100 for the cheapest option I can find (with no reserve copy). I've emailed the professor asking him to order a copy, with no response yet. I've looked through the public library and only the 1st edition is available, we need the 3rd. I've asked classmates but it's an online class so sharing is next to impossible with those who have responded to my inquiries.

With working multiple p/t jobs, an internship, and classes... finding money to just pay rent has been an endless pursuit.

How do you guys cope? What are some creative means to find books you use?

/endrant

Edited September 5, 2013 by citychild

[Lola1233]

I feel your pain, citychild! I'm doing a combo of kindle books, and buying brand new from amazon for the heavy hitter books. They are VERY pricey ($150-$180) but the resale value will be high, specially kept in brand new condition. This seems to be the most affordable option for those of us not lucky enough to have gotten free resources. It will cost more upfront, but in 3 months you can likely resell brand new books for 80% of what you paid for them, if they are in the same condition. 

[citychild]

Honestly, I cannot afford anything at all which stems from my frustration. I'll probably have to borrow money from a friend or someone for this one book, but the prices of books are insane. It is an enormous barrier for many people, myself included :-/

[Lola1233]

I agree. it's absolutely ridiculous.

 

With brand new books, you'll likely get back nearly all of your money when you resell in new condition again. If you can borrow the money to pay upfront, I think this will be the thriftiest way to go. 

 

Also, check out www.coursesmart.com they offer 6 textbooks for $200. Not too shabby if you can deal with ebooks. 

Edited September 5, 2013 by Chrislee

[nugget]

Some former classmates from my UG school would borrow a copy of their books from someone else or the school library and make photocopies. Another girl I knew scanned the pages and made a pdf document (but she had a disability so it was not done to save money but to help her to read more easily).

[Lola1233]

Some former classmates from my UG school would borrow a copy of their books from someone else or the school library and make photocopies. Another girl I knew scanned the pages and made a pdf document (but she had a disability so it was not done to save money but to help her to read more easily).

 

That's a hell of a lot of photocopying!! I feel like I barely have enough time to shower with all the reading assignments we have to do!!

[nugget]

According to some of these students, it would take about 1-1.5 hrs per book (esp if two pages can fit on an 8.5 x 14 inch sheet of paper). Although at the graduate level you probably have a lot more to read so it might not be worth the time. 

 

For an undergrad paying $100-150 per book, it might be worth 7 hours of work (probably not all done on the same day) to save $500-700. For a grad student, perhaps not if there is a lot more to photocopy.  

[citychild]

Actually, I do something similar to photocopying. I take a picture of the pages and convert them on Mac. It's super easy. I've done that for all the books thus far (the ones at reserve). The PDF files I put on my iPad and poof, I'm set. But this one book is an enormous hassle. I haven't found a friend willing to loan me the money so we will see how this works out.