Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class?

[mgoblue678]

Today I had to pay $200 for a Cost Accounting book. It would have been $150 used but they didn't have any used ones left.

The price of textbooks at colleges is absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. So I ask what is the most expensive book you have had to pay for?

[p_rushing]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

Yeah the Accounting books were the most. Just check before selling it back if its used in any other classes.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

120 for a Psych book at BGSU. That lasted a good week...at least I got my money back.

[cubsfan203]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

The book I need for my Marketing class is $180, but I'm putting off buying it until I know for a fact that I will actually need to use it in the class.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

$200 for an Economics book.

Thought about renting it for $130, but I figured I would get at least $60-$100 in trade in value so it wasn't really worth it.

It's kind of ironic, most of us here love college sports, and a lot of funding for the athletic departments for smaller schools comes from the book store.

[oakfan162]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

About $150 for a used accounting textbook. I'm tellin ya, after I started buying and selling my books online, my out of pocket expenses went way down!

[SqueakyD]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

My sophomore year... 210 for an Organic Chemistry book, and 180 for a biological science book. I've graduated and I'm still paying for that semester right now.

[Sanchez_Mareno]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

$180 for a management book

[auburntigersfan]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

$180 for a calc. book in hs.

[str8stuntin03]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

275 bucks for a damn Human Anatomy book when I was at Maryland a couple years ago!

[eDotd]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

~$190 for a System Analysis and Design textbook.

[BurghFan]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

Oh I remember a few of my chemistry and biology books pushing $200. Not only that, but I also went to a private school with tuition upwards of $27,000 a year (and that was for in-state residents). Thank goodness for grants and financial aide.

And its funny this thread should appear today. I just saw an investigative report on my local new channel's website about the rapidly rising prices of college textbooks.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/education/20711118/detail.html

PITTSBURGH -- The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons that first aired Sept. 3, 2009, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.
<HR color=black>

Barnes and Noble has contractual agreements with Robert Morris, Point Park and Duquesne universities to operate their bookstores. We found that Barnes and Noble is charging substantially higher prices for required textbooks on local campuses than it is for those same books on its retail Web site -- and at one school, the prices are even higher than the publisher's list price.

How much is too much for a textbook? How about $313 for a freshman biology book? Or $212 for general chemistry?

Parsons: "What do you think of that book for $212?"

Rowan Lewis, Point Park student: "Um, that's a lot."

Parsons: "You didn't know your mom spent that kind of money on you, did you?"

Lewis: "Uh uh."

Keaton Nichols, Point Park student: "Oh, they are so ridiculous. They are way overpriced. No way they should be that much."

A federal government study found that college textbook prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation.

Team 4 went undercover to bookstores at Duquesne, Point Park and Robert Morris universities. All three college bookstores are operated by Barnes and Noble. We found example after example of Barnes and Noble charging more for required textbooks on campus than it does for the same books on barnesandnoble.com.

At Robert Morris, "Essentials Of Economics" is priced at $147 inside the bookstore and on the store's Web site. But on barnesandnoble.com, the same book is priced $43 lower for members at $104.75 -- and the Web site is offering that "members only" price to all customers. Free shipping, too.

At Point Park, that general chemistry book we told you about for $212 in the bookstore is $48 less on barnesandnoble.com -- priced at $164.43 not just for members, but for everyone.

And at Duquesne University's Barnes and Noble bookstore, we found the same thing happening -- and then some.

See this book entitled "Principles of Microeconomics?" Here at the store and on the store's Web site, the price is $167.85. But on barnesandnoble.com, the price for the same book is $121.13.

Now, take a look at this: The publisher's list price for this book is $158.95 -- but Duquesne's Barnes and Noble bookstore is charging $9 more than the list price.

We found store prices exceeding list prices for lots of other textbooks at Duquesne as well.

Phil Laurash, Bethel Park parent: "After you spend all the money to pay tuition and stuff, you shouldn't get taken to the cleaners on books also, so that's not right."

Emily Gundersen, Duquesne freshman: "I mean, is that legal? Are they allowed to do that? I don't know."

Good question. The state attorney general's office says as long as students are not being deceived by advertising, it's perfectly legal for Barnes and Noble to charge different prices for the same textbooks -- even higher than list price.

We asked all the schools to show us their contracts with Barnes and Noble. We wanted to know if the universities set a price ceiling on textbooks. But all of them declined.

We have written statements from all three universities posted on our Web site.

Barnes and Noble did not return our repeated calls.

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DUQUESNE STATEMENT


Due to the University's non-disclosure agreement with Barnes & Noble, we are unable to share with you our contract terms. Duquesne University students are not required to purchase their textbooks at the campus Barnes & Noble Bookstore. Prices vary from book to book as from store to store, and our prices are comparable to prices found in the marketplace. Some students have reported that pricing at Duquesne's Barnes & Noble is the same or even better than at other retail outlets and stores, including Barnesandnoble.com.

ROBERT MORRIS STATEMENT:


As we discussed yesterday, our contract with Barnes & Noble includes a non-disclosure agreement that precludes us from discussing its specific terms. However, I can tell you that the contract does include a cap on the bookstore's gross margins, which is the amount they can charge above their own costs for each book. That amount was reduced when we last renegotiated the contract in 2006.

Prices at Barnes & Noble vary from book to book as from store to store, and we believe that overall, they are competitive in the marketplace. Because of Barnes & Noble purchasing power, the costs it charges for books and other products in the RMU campus bookstore are considerably lower than if the university were to operate its own bookstore. That said, RMU students are not compelled to purchase their textbooks at the campus Barnes & Noble.

[eDotd]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

Heh, of course they declined to comment. It isn't right but you can easily find almost any book you need for a cheaper price than it's listed at in your school, you just have to look. Freshman year I walked in the book store and saw Introduction to Microcomputer Systems listed at ~$170 used. I gave them a swift hell no and hopped right on ebay.com to get it for ~$60.

The beginning of the semester is one of my favorite times of the year. You can literally make $500+ just from selling your old textbooks(depending on the books you're selling of course). Last year I made like $450 selling math/psych books. I probably won't be making as much this year since I plan to keep most of the books I bought last semester as they're directly related to my major.

[VDusen04]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

I decided to fight the power. Of course, being an Education major, I'm not sure any text book was necessarily truly required to pass any of the courses. I mean, there were oodles and oodles of required books for my classes but I just did not buy them. Actually, I bought them my first semester and learned a valuable lesson: it wasn't worth it.

I found the internet to be a competent replacement in most cases. Otherwise, if a text was absolutely necessary, the university's library would usually have a copy on reserve or I would borrow the professor's copy. In the interest of full disclosure, my real strategy was to wait 2-3 weeks after the class had already begun to see if any product would truly be required in order to pass a class. In those rare cases, I would indeed make the purchase but I could likely count those times on one hand.

My situation may be somewhat unique because for many majors I cannot see it being possible to pass without specific texts. In my case however, I feel I was able to mostly rise above it and those crazy book producing companies lost at least a few hundred dollars at my hands.

As an aside, has anyone else had to experience those clicker things used during interactive lectures? I had a class (Ocean Systems) that was "clicker ready" so to speak, where the professor would conduct a power point lecture littered with pre-maid impromptu quiz questions all students would have to answer (the scores of which would head straight to the gradebook) to ensure all students were present and paying attention.

I found them to be perhaps one of the worst ideas in college history in addition to being one the biggest wastes of time and money. Asking questions about material covered 10 minutes ago was a horrible idea for me because I was so busy recording notes I did not have the opportunity to absorb all the information. I essentially had to drop fifty dollars to make my classroom experience 89 times worse.

[Bruins]

Re: Fellow College Students, What is the most expensive textbook you had for a class

$168.00 Business Statistics (new)
$117.35 Econ. Today: Micro View (used) [which it turns out we don't really need... awesome]
$117.85 Financial Accounting (used)
__$9.95 The Last Shot (used)
_$39.60 QuickBooks Learning Guide (used)
$125.00 Sports in Society (new)