<p>Books are on DS dime. His savings thus far for fall semester are about 45% ($175).</p>
<p>You go Mr. Amazon book buyin’ dude!!</p>
<p>Advice about books- </p>
<p>Don’t go buy, in the middle of summer, online master lists of “required books” for your child’s classes. Have S or D go to the bookstore before or after reporting to the first class and purchase the actual books that will be needed for the class.</p>
<p>last year D was frosh, total bill was 32k. she paid books, plus 3k in cash and a 2.5 k loan</p>
<p>this year bill is 34k, i pay books, she pays 400 monthly rent, plus 4500 loan</p>
<p>We do not pay for books but then, we do not pay for tuition and fees either.</p>
<p>Actually our son rarely pays more than $100/semester for books. He orders on line which saves some but saves hugh amounts by buying earlier editions. There is rarely any content difference and usually no difference in chaper end questions/problem sets. And he has bought books more than three editions earlier.</p>
<p>Yes, we pay for all books and supplies. Son’s book bill has sometimes been around $800/semester (engineering). I have noticed that some kids who are supposed to buy their own books try to save money by either going without a book or sharing with another student. Bad idea, IMO.</p>
<p>“I have noticed that some kids who are supposed to buy their own books try to save money by either going without a book or sharing with another student. Bad idea, IMO.”</p>
<p>Def. a bad idea…I tried that last year and did a lot worse than I could’ve.</p>
<p>Our son buys his own books. Seems to have worked well. Wish he could afford his own tuition.</p>
<p>resourceful college students do not spent that much on books. Our son rarely spends more than $100 for books which would have cost him $600+ in the college bookstore. And yes he gets all the assigned books.</p>
<p>Kid is not in college yet, but I do plan to pay for books. They are a necessary part of his academic experience and I look at it like I would tuition, lab fees, and the like. As others have mentioned, this is not something I want my son to decide to skimp on, either, by not getting all required books.</p>
<p>We pay everything that shows up on the tuition bill–tuition, R & B, all fees.</p>
<p>Sons pay everything else. They are very good at finding used books online. :)</p>
<p>They certainly make enough in the summers to do so, and I think it’s part of growing up and being responsible, to buy things you NEED as well as things you might like to have.</p>
<p>Originaloog – Nice! But, before buying a used earlier edition of an assigned book, it’s wise to email the professor and make sure that specific earlier edition is okay. Usually it’s fine, occasionally not.</p>
<p>p3t, the differences between different editions are rarely significant. Publishers love to print new editions in order to coax unsuspecting students into buying the new edition vs a used text which yeilds them no profit. I know because I have assigned engineering texts and i cannot recall an instance where an earlier edition would not do just fine for undergrad courses.</p>
<p>And savings exceeding 75% can be achieved by buying international editions of the same edition text. The differences are typically soft cover vs hardcover, b/w vs color, paper quality, none of which impacts content.</p>
<p>Our son has also found assigned books in the library which he then checked out to read. These were not texts but assigned novels and some non-fiction works.</p>
<p>The past two years(18 courses) his total cost for text books has probably been less than $200-$300 whereas that first semester the college bookstore charge came to more than $600 and that was with a few used texts included.</p>
<p>S pays for his books and spending money including for clothing. That’s what I was responsible for when I was in college, including for transportation home except at the beginning and end of the year, which was when my family drove me to school. I did try to go without buying books, but quickly learned that books needed to be high on my list of items to buy.</p>
<p>My in laws are paying for D’s books for fall as a grad gift. She plans on looking online for used, in hopes that her bill will come in low enough that they offer to pay again in the future!</p>
<p>^What a wonderful gift, and what a smart way of handling it on your D’s part!</p>
<p>We pay for almost everything related to school - tuition (less $10,000, which she is responsible for), room and board, books, room furnishing, ballet classes (pointe shoes, leotards, etc). She gets a monthly allowance. D will be getting a job while in school.</p>
<p>We pay for tuition, room and board, books, and for D, airline tickets home.</p>
<p>Summer jobs go toward gas and insurance (son), summer and other travel, meals out, entertainment, clothes, incidentals (toiletries and make-up), and savings. They will both need a little nest egg to start their after college lives.</p>