04-26-2012, 05:57 PM
For the area of study your son thinks he is going into, $1500 is on the high side. But, as soon as you start looking at texts in the sciences and math the prices go right up. As mentioned there are options, how well they work is going to depend on how well your son uses them. In any case, plan on at least $500 a semester, and if there are savings they can help out with other unexpected expenses. Some money can be recovered by selling off used texts, again that is going to depend on how organized your son is at getting that done.
One option not mentioned is that many college libraries will have books on course reserves. This can include texts. Depending on the material and how he needs to use it, this can substitute for purchasing a text. It does take planning and discipline on his part, if he always showed up the night before an exam expecting to borrow the text he might not find one available to borrow.
As for knowing what books a course will require far enough in advance to order them from lower cost alternatives, within the last few years a law or regulation was put in place that requires listing required texts in the course description. This was implemented in all the course descriptions at the university I work at. An example is this from a math course taught this Spring(most of the Fall text requirements have not been posted yet):
As you can see, price and ISBN is listed. One thing to watch out for is required on-line access. This is not included with purchases of used texts, purchasing it can raise the price of a used text to that of buying a new one. Also additional supplies can include the need to buy equipment such as calculators, and in the case of many courses here at the university, a "clicker" for use in lecture courses and some exams. Fortunately one clicker is good for all courses that require them, except here some students have needed two different ones this past year as the campus was in the process of changing vendors.
Another equipment expense I have seen is for video. Some courses here have requirements for video presentations. Most can't be filled by low end video from a phone, etc. Here one source of equipment is a student organization that rents camcorders, tripods, mic's and the like to fellow students. Tapes or SD cards are the responsibility of the user. The library also lends a limited amount of video equipment as well. Again, expendable supplies are not provided.
Hope some of this helps. I am basing my comments on having a couple sons of college age, and having worked at a university for over 25 years and seeing how students have dealt with texts.
One option not mentioned is that many college libraries will have books on course reserves. This can include texts. Depending on the material and how he needs to use it, this can substitute for purchasing a text. It does take planning and discipline on his part, if he always showed up the night before an exam expecting to borrow the text he might not find one available to borrow.
As for knowing what books a course will require far enough in advance to order them from lower cost alternatives, within the last few years a law or regulation was put in place that requires listing required texts in the course description. This was implemented in all the course descriptions at the university I work at. An example is this from a math course taught this Spring(most of the Fall text requirements have not been posted yet):
Textbook/Other Materials
Special Instructions - Price is on-line from publisher. Hybrid Edition is print + eBook & includes multi-semester access to required WebAssign on-line homework system. (For just 2 semesters, Math 131-132, single-variable-only version is available on-line at $120.49.)
Book
Status - Required
Mathematics - Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Hyb, Author: James Stewart, Publisher: Cengage, Edition: 7, Year Published: 2012, Price: 138.99 USD
ISBN: 9781111426682
Other Materials
Status - Required
WebAssign on-line homework system, Author: WebAssign, Publisher: webassign.net
Status - Recommended
graphing scientific calculator, e.g., TI-89, Publisher: Texas Instruments
As you can see, price and ISBN is listed. One thing to watch out for is required on-line access. This is not included with purchases of used texts, purchasing it can raise the price of a used text to that of buying a new one. Also additional supplies can include the need to buy equipment such as calculators, and in the case of many courses here at the university, a "clicker" for use in lecture courses and some exams. Fortunately one clicker is good for all courses that require them, except here some students have needed two different ones this past year as the campus was in the process of changing vendors.
Another equipment expense I have seen is for video. Some courses here have requirements for video presentations. Most can't be filled by low end video from a phone, etc. Here one source of equipment is a student organization that rents camcorders, tripods, mic's and the like to fellow students. Tapes or SD cards are the responsibility of the user. The library also lends a limited amount of video equipment as well. Again, expendable supplies are not provided.
Hope some of this helps. I am basing my comments on having a couple sons of college age, and having worked at a university for over 25 years and seeing how students have dealt with texts.