<p>^ I have the same experience (although a different school). 3 of the books with ISBN not found anywhere. I assume those are school specific materials (i.e. published by the University). If a textbook for freshmen/sophomore is $200+, you can imagine how much more expensive those textbooks for upperclassmen will be (due to much less copies printed and available in the market).</p>
<p>Back to the OP, yes this is true, though I don’t know if it is really left out of discussion of aid packages or calculators . Also many times the student doesn’t realize that they will need to buy health insurance that was not indicated in the COA, depending on their coverage. And that can be another 1 to 3k. But this year a student I know with a 0 EFC did get need only awards from 2 separate universities (top 20) with a contribution of only 2k and 2.7k…So maybe it doesn’t usually go lower than your numbers, but it can. Unfortunately these packages can’t be really compared to other ones because of the other inputs that colleges treat differently.</p>
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<p>Wow…</p>
<p>The custom edition bundles of the textbooks for Berkeley Math 1A and 1B (calculus 1 and 2) are $65.75 new (same book/bundle for both courses), while the custom edition bundle for Berkeley Math 53 (calculus 3) is $59.75 new. These are custom editions of Stewart’s Calculus Early Transcendentals, 7th edition. Oddly, the Berkeley custom edition price (for both added together) is considerably cheaper than the list price of $288.95 (for the regular edition book covering calculus 1, 2, and 3) or the Amazon price of $225.72.</p>
<p>However, if a math instructor really wanted to save students some money on textbooks for calculus 1, 2, and 3, s/he would assign this free-on-the-web book: <a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/”>http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/</a></p>
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<p>You know, I explicitly wrote “federal or institutional” EFC and avoided using the words “meet full need” to avoid the arguments around these terms, because the point of this thread is to make sure people understand that net price generally will not be $0 even if EFC (whichever version is used by the school, presumably institutional in most or all applicable cases) is $0 at a school with good financial aid. The reason is the existence of an expected student contribution that virtually all such schools require.</p>
<p>@usbalumnus It is never the interest of the school to save students some money. Otherwise, they could just give away the study packs instead of charging over a hundred for each. They are simply printed/photocopied materials from the school that the school has the copyright. Nevertheless, one may get the Calc 3 text book international edition for ~$70. Just the exercises would be different. The only concern is homework assignments from those exercises. Also, there are no code with those international editions.</p>
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<p>It does not prevent some faculty from assigning free-on-the-web books.
<a href=“CS 61A Summer 2014: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs”>CS 61A Summer 2014: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs;
<a href=“http://leevaraiya.org/”>http://leevaraiya.org/</a></p>
<p>Perhaps the faculty at Berkeley are more sensitive to the needs of students from low income families? (The percentage of students on Pell grants is much higher at Berkeley than at Michigan, for some reason, despite comparable in-state financial aid.)</p>
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never the interest of the school to save students some money. Otherwise, they could just give away the study packs instead of charging over a hundred for each. They are simply printed/photocopied materials from the school that the school has the copyright. </p>
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<p>I dont know about that. My kids’ undergrad charged a reasonable amount for these Study Packs (enough to cover paper/labor and some profit). Although these things were quite thick, none cost anywhere near a hundred bucks. </p>
<p>@twoinanddone Can any of your D’s books be rented? </p>
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<p>I take issue with that. The “school” doesn’t select books; faculty do. As a faculty member, I’m very conscious of price. And I will let students use older editions, etc, if they ask. Access codes, however, are what they are. The one my students need costs $75. If they don,t want to give more money to the school, they can purchase it directly from Pearson, but the price is the same. </p>
<p>I’m going to add that at many schools, the bookstore is now a contracted service, so it’s a third party vendor you can blame for the price gouging. </p>
<p>Sorry, UCBalum, if it appears I’m directing things at you. I am not. This is a great thread full of good info. </p>
<p>As I stated here, and in other threads, at schools with very low prices (usually community colleges, local state schools), where the students are primarily commuters, it is possible to get full need met as defined by EFC, due the the low tuition rates and generous definition of COA, particularly when the state involved has aid, and if you count loans and ws as aid.</p>
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<p>I think this is true of many schools. $500 in books for one class is outrageous. My sons haven’t faced this as PhD or Med students, much less undergrad…as Math and Chem Engineering majors…with 5 minors in various STEM majors as well. </p>
<p>The COA estimates for books, usually is around 800-1400 per year. For one class to require (not state as optional) $500 in books is nutty, even if the books can be used for the follow-on class. </p>
<p>we have purchased access codes from the school or the publisher when buying used books. </p>
<p>My daughter is renting books for her composition class, but for Chem and Calc, there was only one book even available as used, all the rest were new. I am told she’ll use them all year, so renting them would require doing it for two semesters, probably not a savings. I do think I ordered one calc book ($301!!!) that is now listed as recommended, so we’ll return that one and see how it goes. She’s still at over $800 without that book, and didn’t buy about $400 in recommended books. Her school’s estimated cost for books is $1200, very low for a school where most students are math, science, engineering, or psych majors. My other daughter, a theater major, will not spend $300 total, and two of her books are ‘new only’ at about $80 each.</p>
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<p>Any of the books listed in this thread suitable for your course?
<a href=“Big Savings for U.S. Students in Open-Source Book Program - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1289172-big-savings-for-u-s-students-in-open-source-book-program.html</a></p>
<p>Sorry, no. However, for one of this year’s classes I did keep costs under $50. Not free, but I really better not hear anyone complaining.</p>