I wasn’t sure whether to post this in Everything Else or here, but it’s about books so I’ll put it here for now.
When I went to college a century ago, the textbook trade was a racket but you didn’t have a choice. Helping my son order his textbooks today I figured the Internet would have changed things, but apparently it hasn’t much. Why do colleges try to screw the one segment of the population that doesn’t have any money?
But the one new wrinkle is book rentals. So I am trying it out via Amazon (Chegg.com is another site that does it). For a fraction of the cost of the book you get a semester rental and at the end of the class can print a prepaid postage label to send the book back. Fingers crossed here…but have any of you tried this before and how were your experiences?
Got my degree a couple of years ago. I used Amazon rentals whenever I could. Never had any issues. Books always in good shape. Long rental times that always easily covered my class. Highly recommend.
My problem was my books often came software or online access. Or even worse, they did a special version of the book for the school, so no rental, and no selling it afterwards. You can usually buy the software stuff on the side, but it ain’t cheap.
I went to college from 91 to 96, and we had a textbook rental as part of a service the University provided. For $31 a semester, you could rent all the books you needed for the semester for each of your classes. Your teachers had to ok the books for each class. It worked out well, I got all the books for the classes I needed. The only thing I regretted after college is that there were some books that were really good, and I wished I could go back to them and use them as a reference, but I couldn’t track them down anymore, so I did wish that I’d bought a few of the books instead of renting them.
I’m not familiar with the current system with Amazon, sorry.
For my MBA 2-3 years ago, I almost exclusively used Chegg. Very easy to use, good quality books, fast delivery, they throw in a bunch of freebies in the box. You have to remember to mail the book back (I believe it is prepaid) a few weeks after the class ends, but I never had a problem with the return process either. I can’t remember how I addressed the software issue. There are a lot of classes that never use the software, so your student may want to inquire/read the syllabus before they commit to looking for the software. (Of course that requires the professor to write the syllabus prior to the first day of class :) ).
I used Amazon once for a book that Chegg didn’t have. I seem to remember it was more expensive, but don’t remember a bad experience. Chegg isn’t a recognized name, but they provided a good service.
Also, many professors know that textbook costs are insane. Again, you may want to reach out to the professor before school starts. I’ve had professors give the cross-referenced pages for the international editions of books (often cheaper), provide a link to a cheaper digital copy, and occasionally give you access to their own book for free.
This is probably one of the most common questions to professors before they begin their class - so they should be prepared for it.
I’m doing my masters in teaching right now and I’m so thankful that in all of my courses I’ve only had to buy one single textbook. All other readings are provided via PDF. In some cases I’ve found that when a teacher has a course that uses a textbook, at least one copy of the book is put on hold by the library so that it can be loaned out for periods of 3 hours. In that case I just put my phone scanner to work!
I didn’t do rentals, but I probably spent less than 1000 on textbooks for my 4 years of undergrad.
Biggest money saver? Not buying textbooks. I usually would reach out to the professor to ask if they assigned specific reading out of the textbook, and most of them said no. Every class was required to have at least 1 “textbook”. And a lot of teachers ended up making that more “here is a novel related to this class” (Silent Spring, Sand County Almanac etc) My big purchases were a calculus book I stupidly bought my first year, and sold to a roommate for 50 cash and the Biology textbook that my school required all kids buy, but was built to be used for all 4 years of required classes. (So no zoology or botany specific books) It was a 150$ massive tome, but it saved me money.
The other trick I would use would be buying off Amazon used (which in 2004-2008 was much cheaper than now) and then selling back or just keeping. I would try to shoot for the previous edition of the book if possible.
The key is, most schools will have copies of all textbooks available in the library, and for those who didn’t assign reading, but maybe questions from specific pages, it was a simple trip to the library to scan/print the specific page or pages of the book.
That is exactly the opposite of 95% of my classes when I got my degree 2 years ago. Everything was very reliant on the books. Readings and homework. Of course I went to a crappy community college and they relied heavily on the books online portion.
My son is also in college, and we have a couple of semesters of textbook buying experience under our belts already. For a couple of classes we purchased used textbooks on Amazon for less than the cost of renting one. These were classes where the professor specifically told the kids they could find cheap copies on Amazon. Seems many professors are sympathetic to the plight of students and their parents when it comes to ridiculously expensive textbooks.
We’ve rented a book through both Chegg and Barnes & Noble. The return process is super easy for both. Basically, they will send you an email reminder a couple of weeks before it’s due. You log back into their site, print a shipping return label, then pack the book up (keep the original package it comes in if it’s undamaged and you can reuse it), tape the label on, and drop it at the nearest location of the shipping service they prefer. Renting was cheaper than buying in most cases, though not all (see the Amazon example above).
Here’s the rage inducing thing about “books” that you will soon run into if you haven’t already…many schools now require students to purchase digital subscriptions as class materials rather than physical books. At first you would think “This is a great idea! Digital textbooks don’t require printing or revision or shipping or a sales person…so they’ll be cheaper!”. NOPE. My son’s mathematics “books” for the past two semesters have been digital course materials and they have averaged $100 each class, which buys you a code to unlock the subscription in your university account. This semester he’s only got two out of his six classes where physical books are even an option…the other classes are all electronic course materials only, and they are ridiculously expensive. This seems to be the new college scam, charging physical textbook rates for digital materials, and it’s infuriating.
If every single major textbook publisher and electronic e-learning service provider headquarters fell into the earth and was swallowed whole tomorrow, no one would mourn the loss. Even the families of the entombed would, if asked, merely shrug with a pained expression on their face and say something like, “Well, I mean, I could have been a hospital or school or something, right?”
Interesting. When I went back, 2012-15, I was literally able to buy a Surface Pro tablet for the last two years, and it paid itself off purely through the price differential between the digital textbook and physical. Often times the price difference was $100 or more.
Granted when you’re paying $130 instead of $250 it hardly feels like a bargain,
I work at B&N College. Lots of students forget to return the rentals on time and end up having to pay the full value of the book. We get frustrated calls from parents trying to figure out why they were charged $200-300 after the semester ends.
I can see that happening fairly often with kids that live on campus, especially far from home. The rental period on my son’s books expired over the holiday break, so if you live on campus and forget to bring home your rented book(s) over break to return them, at the minimum you’re going to pay an extension fee ($15 I seem to recall), and after that they charge you for the whole book (minus whatever you paid in rental already).
When we returned his B&N rented textbook, the email I received said something about them no longer renting textbooks. It wasn’t clear if they meant that specific book, or if B&N was getting out of the rental business entirely. If it’s the latter, that’s a shame, because honestly they were the cheapest rental source we found, and an absolute breeze to deal with in terms of how fast their shipping was and how easy it was to return the book.
It must be just that book, since B&N College makes most of their money off text books and apparel. They’re in better shape financially than regular B&N I think. I would not be surprised if the latter went the way of the dodo like Borders did.
My daughter, who graduated from Fresno State in 2016, got all her books from online rentals. She even had teachers recommending it. Sure, not everything was available but she saved hundred every semester and as far as I know never had any problems returning them.
You do want to make sure you get the same edition as the one specced though. I think she goofed that way once or twice.
Wow, that site is NICE! You can select your classes directly from the course catalog and it will show not just textbooks, but suggested supplements and supplies for the class as well. Cool.
Sadly, it appears the University of Cincinnati does not have such a partnership with B&NC…so no dice for us. Ohio State University isn’t on the list either. Strange.
