<p>I like the idea of the return period - assuming there is one. I would think they might have closed that loophole though. I never thought about there not being time for breakfast - that’s my D’s favorite meal. Sounds like they need an hours adjustment too if class time takes up all the breakfast time.</p>
<p>our son rarely has his book by the first day of class because he buys online too. Not having them for that first week has not been a big deal for him. He usually has all the books he needs by the end of the first week however.</p>
<p>Sharing suggestions on details like this is where CC really shines.
Cost of books & restrictions on board usage is not something first time students and parents think about when looking at schools, but is an ongoing issue through graduation.</p>
<p>I feel fortunate that not only did my D attend school in a town with the [largest</a> independent new & used bookstore in the world](<a href=“http://www.powells.com%5Dlargest”>http://www.powells.com)which meant that they had many books that were used in the mandatory for all freshman class with a req. booklist as long as my arm ( over 30 for the year), but her cafeteria allows students to buy ingredients for do it yourself meals with board points .</p>
<p>While her school bookstore admittedly has very good prices on books, sometimes a book was required that was brand new & they didn’t have it used. Biology texts especially with cd-roms and color plates are very expensive. However, because they list all the info online, in plenty of time to get it before class, we have been able to find it at used online bookstores that get overstocked books.</p>
<p>ZM, I hear you and I’d love to buy you that (virtual, unfortunately) drink. S’s school not only lets the kids have “to go” containers (S described a dinner in his dorm where each kid was responsible for getting a different food group) but also publishes a book list with ISBNs for each course. I’ve saved quite a bit of money by shopping around for S’s books…and I agree that S wouldn’t have bothered to make the effort!</p>
<p>I spoke to the school about the ongoing computer issue. I’m from NYC, so no shrinking violet, but was stunned by the lack of cooperation and courtesy. Turns out from other sources that the stuff the school put on her computer conflicts with what the factory installed. The school’s answer is “she can use labs.” I’m absolutely irate.</p>
<p>HeliMomNYC, my son’s school in NYC does the same with food to go and online lists of books.</p>
<p>You bet after spending $3600 on a food plan (19 meals per week) I encourage him to use them ALL up.</p>
<p>As for the books, some of them are ‘custom’ books just for his school NYU. I’ve managed to get 2 books online. One of his classes this semester has a list of 14 books, but they are all in the $ range of 8-20. Glad he likes to read!</p>
<p>zoosermom,</p>
<p>What specifically is the ‘factory installed’ part that is causing a conflict? Can it be disabled, removed, turned off. What kind of computer, pc (with XP or vista) or Mac?</p>
<p>the IT answer is unacceptable</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Suggest you make the call before you have the drink! Then have two. :D</p>
<p>No, I do not think you are crazy! These policies sound petty and unfair.</p>
<p>ZM-
In post #31 in the “revolving threads” thread stickied at the top of this forum is a list I posted some of the best used book sites my s has used in college to buy books- For sake of convenience, I’ll repost it here: (and these are in addition to amazon.com and half.com which are also VERY good sites to buy used books, and usually where he looks first-- then comparison shops on the other sites-- or goes immediately to the sites that do the comparison shopping for you and tell you the sites with the best prices. They are below:
</p>
<p>Most of the strategies he’s used to get books have been posted here already- but I’ll repeat: </p>
<p>1)Get on facebook and see who is registered for the same class and who already has the ISBN numbers of the books- then order on line</p>
<p>2) Borrow from/share with a friend or use the library (most classes have the books on permanent hold in the library so there is always one available to read in the library) until the book arrives (this is also an important strategy for classes he ultimately decides to drop- he likes to sign up for too many classes and then “shop around” for the ones he likes best. His school lets them do that for the first week or so.)</p>
<p>3) Wait 'til he gets to school and see which students are reselling texts (gotta be sure the professor hasn’t changed the text first, though most students will take it back and refund you iif the book is no longer the right edition) - and corranged is right-- since the students make more $$ if they sell them directly rather than resell to the book store, there should be plenty available on campus when your d returns</p>
<p>4) Another point not yet mentioned-- Buy the international edition on line. It is MUCH cheaper (though with the dollar dropping that may not still be true)- the ONLY differences have been that sometimes the cover is different or the page layout may be a little different (ie what is on page 30 in one edition may be on page 32 in the international edition) but that is easy to resolve by asking someone with the US edition (and most of the time they assign by chapter, not by page #). You can oftentimes get the international edition in the US from the above links so don’t have to wait for overseas shipping. The text content is identical to the US edition.</p>
<p>5) Email professors for the book list/ISBN number (I see that your d’s faculty aren’t all back yet, and you are having “issues” with the college junk installed on the computer-- grrr-- but most faculty or TA’s understand the book cost issue and will happily help with the ISBN numbers).</p>
<p>My s ran into the same problem with the school and bookstore not releasing the ISBN numbers in advance-- this happened when the bookstore tried out letting themselves be managed by Barnes&Noble. Everyone was peeved bigtime, because until that time the bookstore and school had released the ISBN numbers in advance. It was an obvious effort to make the students buy in the bookstore. I think the students rebelled a bit by more of them selling the used books directly to each other rather than letting the bookstore get the double revenue (buy back cheap from the student and then sell used, but at a profit to the next student) (the reaction by the students makes my old 1970’s protest spirit proud!)</p>
<p>Anyway-- lots of ways around the high cost of books issue. And, frequently, if my s bought used off the web, he could resell the book at a slight profit the next semester!!</p>
<p>Good luck! Byt he way, is theis the daughter that was ill and in the hospital? How is she doing??</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post-- hope it helps.</p>
<p>Sue, it can be disabled but only by the school because when they intalled their part (I’m trying to be careful what I say here), it was done in such a way that there are certain components that the user can’t access. I understand the need to protect their network, but this is apparently a problem for others, including faculty, as well, and should have been resolved months ago. It requires the IT people to actually listen to what’s going on and then fix it. When I spoke to them last week, the guy just wouldn’t listen to me. He was so sure he knew what my daughter was doing wrong and was happy to lecture us, but his lecture had nothing to do with the problem.</p>
<p>JYM, thanks so much for the tips. Enormously helpful! This is all so new to me and I really think my kids are at a disadvatage because of that. Yes this is the daughter who was in and out of the hospital. She’s doing ok but not great. We can still see the after-effects. Did very well in all classes except one because it was tough and missing even a few classes didn’t help a bit. She did pass, though, so that’s at least positive. Thank you for asking.</p>
<p>Happy to help, Zoos. And glad your d is doing better.
As for the computer issues- I have 2 suggestions-
- Does your d.s school have on campus computer repair folks? These are usually students who work either for free or at a very low cost to help fix computer problems for the students. My s’s school has 1 or 2 of these in each of the dorms, and they are on call to fix the emergency computer snafoos that inevitably happen right before a big paper is due!! If your d’s school has these computer folks, I am sure they’ve faced this school install problem before and can fix it!</p>
<p>2) If not, I am sure there are many computer geeks on campus that have fixed this problem on their own computers. If your dau can get into her facebook account, its another question to ask of the students or of her friends. Someone will know someone who can fix it, I am sure. </p>
<p>I agree with sueinphilly. If the school IT folks screwed up your daus comoputer access, saying “she can go to the library” or to an on campus shared, public computer is outrageous!</p>
<p>"1) Does your d.s school have on campus computer repair folks? These are usually students who work either for free or at a very low cost to help fix computer problems for the students. "</p>
<p>That’s who we’ve been dealing with. Actually, the head of the department. Not nice people at all. I’m sure they could deal with it easily if they so chose, but so far they haven’t chosen.</p>
<p>Cautionary tale. DD buys whatever she can buy from the online used vendors, and that has been fine. This term she is taking physics, and her roommate just finished the sequence and offered to sell DD the book for a song (really…she just wanted to get rid of it). Well…long story short, the physics book was the ONLY book DD had to buy NEW from the stinking bookstore, as just this term, the professors decided to use the update version of the book…not the one roommie had. The only silver lining to this is that DD will be able to use the book for three terms.</p>
<p>She did check with the prof who was very clear…he wanted the new version of the book. What a rip off.</p>
<p>Zoos-
The head of what department?? I am not quite sure if we are talking about the same thing. It sounds like you are dealing with some IT office on campus. At my s’s school, there is both an IT Dept (where you can order software, hardware, etc at discounted academic rates) but there is also a separate service–( which are paid campus jobs for students) that offers tech support in each dorm. These are the students who would likely be more kind, and probably more helpful than the mean-spirited folks you are dealing with in the IT Dept. If you get nowhere with getting the problem resolved, ask your dau. if she has any friends who write for the school newspaper (or have her write a letter to the editor) about this issue. That will get attention.</p>
<p>Oh I’m sorry JYM, I get you now. there’s nobody that comes to the dorms. there is a tech support office where students have to bring their computers and leave them until the office decides to get to them. These people have been unhelpful and uncooperative, but unfortunately there’s no other alternative since the problem is being caused by their security software. since they’re the license holders, the tech support at the softward company won’t even deal with us.</p>
<p>^^^^ Bummer, Zoos. Sounds like it’s time to find some tecchie on campus who has been able to fix this problem on their own computer and can do it for your dau (again, message out on facebook might help) or it’s time to rally that activist spirit and start the publicity in the school newspaper, if no one in admisinstration will help (maybe no one outside of the IT department knows about this??).
Had to laugh… your last two threads were entitled… “Totally Frustrated” and “This is Obnoxious”. Sounds like a rough couple of days! But the titles are attention-grabbing! You can probably help your dau write an attention-grabbing article for her school paper!!</p>
<p>I’m definitely going to urge her to write something. It’s generally a lovely school, so I’m not usually this disgruntled. Everyone was amazing when she was ill, so it’s not all bad. I’ve been fantisizing about a martini luge this week.</p>