do you buy textbooks and not read them?

[adameastment]

Yep, in the first year of University I spent over £200 on textbooks. The following years I just borrowed books from the library for literally the entire year, same with my final year. At the end of the day, if you can just borrow from the library - so much easier.

 

[curiousnathan]

I make the most out of mine when I need to (aka school on) but after that if I'm not studying that subject anymore or have finished my course then they just sit at the top of my wardrobe gathering dust.

 

[Bellsprout]

I typically continually read it if it's a history textbook. Sometimes science though it depends on the science it is about. Actually now that I think about it I have read into some of my English textbooks too because you don't always get to all the good stories in class. A math book though omg. I rather burn it and rid the world of another math book than read it anymore than I have to or give it to someone else. I usually end up giving it to someone else though because I can't get myself to be that wasteful.

 

[mikey]

Yep. I rent them now though, so I can get them cheap and return them when I'm done :3

 

[pippitha]

The 2 years so far I've been in college, I think I've only had one class that I needed the book in, and only because it was a medical terminology class and I needed to learn the definition of a ton of things.

I get book vouchers though, so I have never spent a dime on textbooks. and financial aid pays for the other stuff my classes require. But if I didn't, I'd have had to spend well over a few thousand dollars already.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I only rent textbooks on subjects that aren't part of my major, unless it's a language book. After semester's over, I don't read these textbooks until I need them for reference in the future.

 

[Pepperton]

I've bought my textbooks before, but now I try and rent them out. Usually the course doesn't require we read it from front to back cover, so I only take the time to study the sections that will be gone over in the class, and once that's been completed, I don't touch it again. Studying like that is great and mandatory to succeed, but I love all things that involve hands-on work, and reading textbooks don't fall into that category.

 

[moon]

I display old textbooks in my bookshelves to look smart 8) Never sell or throw them away.

 

[Soph3]

Recently finished a German Studies degree...spent over £400 on history books and German literature, and i'll probably never read any/the majority of it ever again. Such a shame!

 

[SparklingMistral]

Ugh, yes. :(

I'm taking 5 classes this semester, 3 credit hours each, for a total of 15. My financial aid has thankfully covered everything thus far, and I haven't needed to take out student loads yet (thank God). The tuition at my school went up again (ughhh), and while my financial aid covers the tuition, I only have ~$300 left over for books.

And my God, books are expensive.

What I've started doing, thanks to my lovely mother's advice, is going to classes the first week to see if it's actually worth getting the books, and the renting the ones I'm able and purchasing the rest I have to. I have discovered the lovely Amazon and their textbook program, and some of the books I need for next semester are rentals for so much cheaper than what my school's bookstore offers, so I intend to do that for the books I need rather than going through the bookstore and purchasing things because good lord are they expensive. :(

tl;dr amazon is going to be great this semester and books are expensive

 

[Sir Codin]

Whenever you're assigned a textbook, ask the professor how much you're going to use it throughout the semester.

Watch the professor fumble for words.

I know I shouldn't talk, but college these days seriously seems like it's for suckers. Guess that makes me a sucker. FML

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

I always buy or rent the textbook, whichever is cheaper (sometimes, especially with math, it's cheaper to buy than rent for two semesters).

There were many times where a class barely even used the books, or not at all. It wasn't too frustrating, because I can always sell or send the book back. I was always glad I bought books before the start of the semester when we actually used them- I saw many people fall behind when they lagged on getting the books.

However, my college had "custom made" books that they require for some of the low level courses (speech for example) that were infuriating because you could not sell the book anywhere else, and if you didn't give the book back at the end of the semester (i.e. before finals... but you need the book to study for the finals?!) then you got no refund. It's kind of sad, they have to money grab like that on top of tuition and fees.

Just wish there were more non profit colleges in my area. Not too sure about online degrees personally.

 

[rickyt713]

im about to enter my 5th year in college and i have yet to read any of the textbooks i have rented (better than buying in my opinion). i have never found it necessary because i still pass my classes with decent grades.

 

[tfr5015]

bigwords.com guys. I swear your textbook bill will go from 600.00 to 200.00 on a expensive semester. Then you can feel better about not reading.

 

[Imperator161]

I generally buy the textbooks for my classes (usually on Amazon, unless the school requires a custom textbook, which happens on occasion). For science courses, I find they frequently serve as good reference materials at later points in time, so I tend to hold onto them. For the humanities, the books generally aren't as useful (though I have reused a couple in multiple classes), but they also tend to be cheaper, so at least that's a plus. I don't really like to rent textbooks, as I like writing notes in them/marking them up, and you can't generally return them once you've done that.

Many of my upper-level classes didn't have textbooks, so at least my book costs dropped later on in my undergraduate career. Still, I wish schools could cut textbook costs a little. It's especially annoying when classes switch to a new edition of a book (especially if the new version has additional chapters that the professor values), as that tends to make it nearly impossible to pick up cheaper or used copies.

 

[acatfrommars]

It depends on how much they'll cost. I'll probably rent them to save money. I start college this year and I have no idea how much they will cost, hopefully not too much! I don't even have my schedule yet.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

A couple of times, I had professor who told us not to buy the text book because he wasn't going to use them.

Which I didn't believe. I thought it was a false move. So, I bought the book and studied from it for the midterm.... didn't do so hot. Ditched the text book and studied just from their lectures for the final exam. Flying colours lol

Trust your professor XD

 

[Limey-chan]

I never had to buy any textbooks, they were always provided for me at school and I never went to college or university.

I'm quite glad if truth be told, I have friends who went to college/university, and there are certain textbooks you have to buy, and apparently they're ridiculously expensive.

 

[Jessie]

I usually just buy the previous edition of the book. Usually all that the publisher has done is moved the chapters around. Sometimes they don't even do that.

I can't tell you how many text books I've bought for 1 cent off Amazon because it's the previous edition. I don't think I've ever paid over $10 for a last-edition text. I only buy current edition texts when it's absolutely required, but that's only happened a few times. I live in a large college town, so I also have had luck in the past finding textbooks at thrift stores for a dollar or two.

ETA: If I'm signed up for a course and it requires an outrageous amount of textbooks or material, and it isn't a course I'm absolutely required to take, I drop it and find another one. Tuition is too expensive. Ain't nobody got money for your books.

 

[Sonata]

In high school we never used the textbooks we were given because most of the teachers thought they were dumb. But since I slept through the majority of my classes I would usually go home after all of my after school sports activities and read a couple of chapters every night. I went through my Calculus textbook like 10 times last year and I didn't even end up taking Calc because I had to drop it to put in something that I was kicked out of for sleeping through the year before.