I only used the UH bookstore for one class - Spanish, and that's because I needed the Quia online workbook immediately, that was $72 and the actual text for the class was $89. As for other classes--My books for Shakespeare, and Chaucer I bought on Amazon, and I bought my Intro to Comm book from a girl who listed hers on the facebook marketplace. The 4 books for those 3 classes cost around $100 altogether, at the bookstore would have been $238. I've definitely learned my lesson of college bookstores.
Yeah that really sucks. They turned everything into business nowadays. It sucks that they don't really regulate this at all. They already hike up tuition per semester and the books aren't getting cheaper either. I just don't see students ever winning anytime soon. I need to graduate ASAP.
Has anybody else's college/university started doing this: I attend Arkansas State University. When a student receives financial aid such as scholarships, loans or grants, the university holds it for as long as two weeks from the start of the semester. This leaves the student with $0 to buy books elsewhere. But what did the university do? They allow students to go to the university's bookstore and charge their books with their student IDs but they don't allow any of the other bookstores in town to use this type of service. They also only allow you to charge your books the first two days of class with this method. Another things they have started implementing slowly is the automatic charging of your textbooks on your student account and then the professor hands out the texts the first week of class. One of my classes was this way this semester and they charged me $150 for the texts. Online these collection of books was as cheap as $32.
The uni scamming students in book prices is a college right of passage just as opening them the night before a midterm or having your roommate drench it with puke. I saved some money just by going to the library or borrowing it from classmates during the dead time after midterms.
Its a good site. I've yet to find anything that I actually need on there, but it'll only grow in time. I love their slogan: "Because you can't torrent beer."
That's even better way of saving on books. If you and a friend have the same class but at different times of the day or different days then you can split the cost and share the book. It has worked for me several times as well.
It's like an ebay of sorts. They list independent people and stores, but since it's backed by Amazon, shenanigans are less likely. Have to pay attention to their shipping rates though.
My wife came home laughing from school because she bought a $120 book on AMAZON's used sales for $68, and some people bought it brand new from the expensive bookstore. I am glad I introduced her to these services. For technical books, even if they're for classes, try www.bookpool.com. Their prices are absurd...
