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05-10-2009, 05:20 PM
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#1 | | Member
Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: CT
Posts: 740
| cost of one semester's books
Hopefully if this was covered somewhere, you won't all pounce on me at once. 
Ballpark, what will one semester's cost of books run? Assume purchased new, and I can shave off from there. Assume a "middle major", i.e. not a 2-book physics major, and not a forty million book major like English Lit.
$500?
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05-10-2009, 05:23 PM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 19,858
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Depends on the semester. DD has had semesters with $900 book costs, and semesters with $200 book costs.
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05-10-2009, 05:26 PM
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#3 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 51
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By the way, English lit (my major) may have lots of books, but not lots of expensive books. I think the worst majors for book costs are probably the sciences, or majors that require lots of textbooks.
My textbook costs usually run about $200 a quarter.
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05-10-2009, 05:43 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: CT
Posts: 3,393
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I've seen >$1,200 for one semester's books ... pre-med major. Freshman year should be considerably less, and after that have your student check bulletin boards, etc. for used texts in good condition.
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05-10-2009, 05:43 PM
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#5 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 19,858
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I need to clarify...DD is an engineering major. One book can cost $300. BUT the good news is that same book is usually used for more than one term. That is why there is variation from semester to semester.
Advice (and I know that wasn't asked for), my kids now buy ALL of their books USED online. They haven't had one bit of trouble.
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05-10-2009, 05:47 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: lalaland
Posts: 3,281
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$200 for a semester if you order books from Amazon.
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05-10-2009, 06:11 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: CT
Posts: 3,393
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^ Unless you're in the sciences or engineering. I just checked to be sure: For CHEM 241, $336.25 plus tax -- textbook plus laboratory book. (On the other hand, ENGL 101, $61.50 plus tax for five books.) YMMV.
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05-10-2009, 06:13 PM
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#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: lalaland
Posts: 3,281
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I forgot to mention that my daughter's major is very close to English Lit. Science/Engineering textbooks are very expensive.
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05-10-2009, 06:54 PM
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#9 | | Member
Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: CT
Posts: 740
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Interesting. The posts seem to say that science majors may require more $$$ for books than lit/humanities/non-science majors.
When I went to school, during the Civil War , I was a chem major, and everyone used to be jealous of my $100/semester book costs.
The Times They Are A-Changin'.
[sorry, couldn't resist]
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05-10-2009, 09:10 PM
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#10 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Maryland
Posts: 81
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Mostly engineering, math and science books for my S....run about $300-$350 from Amazon per semester. Then there are the ones that you can only get on campus that can run close to another $100 per semester.
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05-10-2009, 09:26 PM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 19,858
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DD, the engineering major, bought her first term's books at the campus bookstore USED and the total was $850. That was the LAST time she bought books at the bookstore if they were available anywhere else. She has had good luck on amazon, and some other site...maybe halfprice or something like that. The only "extra" is she pays for quicker shipping. Even with that, she has saved HUNDREDS of dollars on books each term. The only time she goes to the bookstore is if the book is not available from another source.
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05-10-2009, 10:11 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Long Beach -->Indiana State '14 (M.S.)
Posts: 2,708
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^I'm planning on using Chegg next semester. Our bookstore was a MESS this semester...it wasn't worth the exorbitant amount. My brother loves using Chegg, and I just looked up some of my books and it's MUCH cheaper.
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05-10-2009, 10:25 PM
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#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wisconsin--> Florida
Posts: 5,810
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Back in the dark ages I bought a calculus textbook I used for 3 semesters (I still have it and had pencilled in the cost) for $13- son's cost over $100 per text used 1 or 2 semesters- honors calc also, with copyrights in the late 1960's! Of course minimum wage was $1.65 increasing to around $1.80 per hour back then also. Schools usually have costs of books et al somewhere on their website- needed info when calculating the cost of attendance for financial aid purposes.
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05-10-2009, 10:55 PM
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#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wisconsin--> Florida
Posts: 5,810
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PS- the era was early 1970's.
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