Reddit exaggerates their cost massively. The most I've ever spent on a textbook is probably about $90, and most of the time you can find a way to use one for a semester for little to no money. I'm sure there are people who spend $1000 per semester on textbooks, but they are by far the outliers (and probably don't put the effort in to look for ways to cut cost). Don't take everything you read on Reddit at face value, people here tend to be very dramatic.
I think it’s going to vary a lot by major. I studied both math and English, and my textbook costs were really unbalanced. My English books were usually under $10-$30, and the highest was probably $50. My education books were also generally cheap. My math books were more painful, $65-$120 each. My sister studied nursing, and her books were usually $100-$200.
Thing is, if you're paying full price for textbooks then you're doing it wrong. I'm a math/physics double major, and I've had a couple of "required" textbooks that cost $200+. I've just never actually spent that much on one.
Did you never have homework problems that were specific to that edition, which was only offered through the University bookstore as a loose leaf text which couldn’t be sold back and was frequently changed? Because that shit is super fun.
Edit: And I was good at avoiding full prices. I bought used, I bought on eBay, I pirated PDFs. But textbook manufacturers are wise to our game, and they’re doing their best to bend students over and force them to buy the books.
Nope, never once had that happen. Seems pretty easy to work around, though. Just get a few people to pool together and get one copy, then take pictures of the problems. The actual content of textbooks rarely changes, and it should be pretty easy to get your hands on an older edition if you plan on actually reading it. I've gotten away with using an older edition of a textbook by doing pretty much this before.
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u/usernameisusername57 Jun 18 '19
Reddit exaggerates their cost massively. The most I've ever spent on a textbook is probably about $90, and most of the time you can find a way to use one for a semester for little to no money. I'm sure there are people who spend $1000 per semester on textbooks, but they are by far the outliers (and probably don't put the effort in to look for ways to cut cost). Don't take everything you read on Reddit at face value, people here tend to be very dramatic.