GolfHos

Just curious.

How much was the average hardcover textbook back when you guys were in college?

On avg they run $120-160 new...for which I receive $40 when i sell back to the bookstore  :( 

the poor get poorer  [sm_disgust]

I was in college more than a decade ago, and it was ~$60-$80/each for the big hard-cover ones.  But I definitely had a few that were in the $150 range, and, of course, a few (for literature classes and such) that ran no more than $10, used.

yea LOL...as a science major I've got it tough.  most of my classes have separate lab textbooks which doubles it to ~$300 per class in textbooks.  i'd love to be an english major and buy a paperback for $10 per semester lol

Hmmm, surely you could swipe someone elses books.

"Freelance Textbook Relocating" I think it's called... ;)

...Technician  ;) ;D

I was in college from '92-'95 and then again from '99-'01. Prices for books really depended on the subject. My English Lit (major for most of my college career) typically ran anywhere from $8 to $80, the most expensive being my Shakespeare compendium which I think was ~$100. Science books were decidedly more. I think I paid around $120 for my biology and chemistry books. Math books varied, but you could usually expect to pay around $50-$70.

When I switched my major to business (bad choice) I paid much less per book, but typically needed more of them per semester.

I considered myself lucky if the class hadn't switched to a different text or a newer edition for the next semester and I could actually sell them back, even at a 75% loss.

I must say that I'm having a bit of sticker shock in this arena also, $288.00 for 3 freakin' books, and the stupid beginning typing book cost $92.00...sheesh.  :o

My oldest daughter showed me a couple of web pages.

http://www.textbook.com
http://www.alibris.com

I guess they have really cheap (buy back?) books, as long as you have the title, the ISBN number and the correct edition you need.  I haven't checked it out yet though, I got started late and needed books now!

Sounds like a good choice to me--although there was a brief period of time between 1999 and 2000 in which English majors were actually being hired as web developers.

I'm remembering around $60 when I was in college ('90-'94).  I can't remember if that was new or used, though.

 $20-$45 depending on course and new v. used.

1983-88  B.S. Mechanical Engineering.

I thought it was outrageous back then. I can only imagine what it is going to be like in 8-12 years when my daughters go to college.

Undergrad 87-91  as I recall, most were in the $30-50, although as a pysch major, we had a few inthe $90-130 range.

Grad school 97-99 texts were about $80 a pop, although my cost per credit hour at the private school was almost equal to one quarter in state tuition when I attended undergrad. [sm_disgust]

$70-$100 depending on course.
1987-91  B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

I can distinctly remember buying a quite slim organic chem lab text for $72 and returning it for trade-in at the bookstore.  They offered me the princely sum of $6 (no, that wasn't a typo -- I wrote SIX DOLLARS), and they had those texts selling used for $42.  (It should here be noted that I consider it blasphemy to write or highlight in or fold down the page corner of any book.)  I posted a 4x6 notecard on the wall outside the organic lecture, asking $35.  A student actually tracked me down in my lab to buy it from me not 20 minutes later.

$75 to $100 for me from 1998-2002 in the Business college

I'd sell them back early most of the time to ensure they bought them back.  Then I'd redirect those funds to the black market pursuant my economic recovery plan. 

97-01 ... engineering related (eng, math, chem, phys, etc)  typically pulled about 600-800/semester on a 4-5 course load so that's about $150 per course I guess.

01-03 ... engineering related (grad school)  typically pulled about 400-500/semester on a 2-3 course load ... so again somewhere in the $150+ range per course


never really sold much of any books back, but I know people routinely got on the order of 10 -15 maybe  20 (if pristine condition)% of sticker price only to see them marked back up to 80% of new price as 'used'

87-91.  Around $40-$60 depending upon the book - but these were used prices.  New would have ran about $60-$90.

I would guess somewhere around $50,000 per book per class in 1986-1987. But that was Navy Nuclear Power School so the cost got spread around. Oh and if I remember correctly those were used books. The non Nuclear class books were cheaper, probably around $1000 - 2000. These were 1950's technology books so they were marked down. Again the Navy spread the cost around. In general my education cost around $500,000 for 2 years. But I got a 4 year cruise out of it on a boat with no windows that was designed to sink.

How does one go from studying molecular biology in college to studying toileting events as a career?

Were you ever stationed on/in an Ohio class sub?

Right time, right place.

A.K.A. Law school.

(http://www.fast-rewind.com/officergentleman2.jpg)

"I've got nowhere else to go!  I've got nowhere else to go!"

Nope, Advanced LA class. SSN 719.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/719insig.png)

I once worked with a Navy ensign who did a cruise on a sub, and he told me all about life as a squid. His experience was particularly interesting. A few days after they set sail, their refrigeration system went out, so they basically cooked and served all their perishables at once. He said that there were guys with an entire roast turkey on their meal trays. Then for the rest of the cruise, all they had to eat were canned beans. There was also a time when their oxygen generators went out. During that time, the entire crew was ordered to lie in bed and do nothing in order to conserve oxygen. What a life.

That's about par for the course. Something always breaks. My avatar on FGI is a pic of my old boat.

I have stories but will save them for another thread.