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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2809770 No.2809770 [Reply] [Original]

/sci/ I Just experienced the bullshit that is college textbooks.

My professor explicitly told me it would only be $70. I had to wait till today like a week and a half after class started to get it cause I'm poor and now come to find out it will be $236 new with no used available. At this point I'd be asking for torrent links if it wasn't for the fact the books come with a online pass for a site we do all the stuff we get graded on.

Textbook rage general.

>> No.2809851

>>2809770

1.Borrow classmates textbook
2.Illegally Photocopy every page
3.Give back classmates textbook
4.Don't get caught
5.????
6.Profit!

>> No.2809873

>>2809851

I would've just torrented the book if I didn't need the pass to get a grade for the class.

>> No.2809893

>>2809873

ah its like a CD key eh?

shit sux man

>> No.2809907

>>2809851
you know how expensive copying a 1000 page book is?

It's probably cheaper than the outrageous price OP mentioned, but still pretty expensive.

OP: why the FUCK don't you just borrow the book from the library?

As for ebooks, there's this link to some russian site that gets posted in ebook threads on /sci/, but I don't have it, sorry.

>> No.2809915

>>2809873
Is there any possible way you can attend a different college?

It's pretty clear to me that they aren't interested in educating you. Colleges/universities that think only of profit are the worst possible places to get an education. They'll use every underhanded trick to swindle money out of you.

Schools should never be run like businesses.

>> No.2809917
File: 6 KB, 89x126, AnotherDayAnotherDollar.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2809917

>>2809873

Have you tried buying an online pass by itself? I've never heard of a website like that which doesn't sell standalone online passes.

>> No.2809926

this is ridiculous.
Is it an American college?

Also, what major?

>> No.2809939
File: 207 KB, 480x720, Patrick_is_a_derp.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2809939

>>2809907
http://bib.tiera.ru/static

>> No.2809941

Good thing I have scanners at home.

Scan that shit and save them as pdfs.

>> No.2809984

>>2809939
fucking BOOKMARK'D

>> No.2809996

>>2809939
>>2809939
>>2809939
Bard A.J., Faulkner L.R. Electrochemical methods. Fundamentals and applications

GOD DAMNIT I PAID $150 FOR A NEW COPY

>> No.2809998

Sue nigger.

This is probably 'murrika

>> No.2810008

>>2809939
>>2809984
>>2809996
Don't go to static, use the mainpage. (delete the static part).

Much easier to search than browse like a 100mb page.

>> No.2810018

>>2809873
>go to book store
>ask for that book
>surreptitiously copy the key somewhere with a pen while pretending to examine it
>"wat? this isn't the book I need her derp"
>don't buy book
>success
Also OP, sucks to be you. I live in a shitty country and profs don't even expect you to buy that shit. Seriously, we have a copy shop right in the basement of the uni building where professors leave our required reading so we can copy it, in addition to copying any book you want for dirt cheap (about 2 cents per page if the book is over 200 pages)

>> No.2810044

>>2810008
Fucking CHANGED MY BOOKMARK!

>> No.2810046
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2810046

OP fucked up royal by waiting so long. Only fools wait for the prof to hand out the syllybus with the textbook list.

Next time go the the book store the week before class starts and look up what hes requested for his course. You'll have your choice of all the new and used.

also what fucking class just started a week ago? Thats a crazy semester schedule.

>> No.2810090

>>2810018

They keep the books behind the counter so I can't do that. It's like they're trying to fuck me over everyway possible.

>> No.2810107

>>2810090
It's like that, because that's what they're doing.

>they're trying to fuck me over everyway possible.

They think that of you, but they always win because they're the ones selling.

>> No.2810126

>>2810046

I wouldn't of had the money than anyway. I'll just have to wait till my next paycheck it won't matter like the first half of the course is stuff I learned in highschool so I can wait.

>> No.2810440

What class is it?

You can almost always buy a passkey for the online assignments.

>> No.2810619

can't you just download most your textbooks these days?

>> No.2810625

you a Calgaryfag, OP?

>> No.2810654
File: 17 KB, 296x281, 1301519633221.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2810654

>>2809770

Wow I have that same physics and calc book.

Freshmen textbooks suck, that's where they nail you. I paid $50 for my astro book (decently well written, 700pgs), about $120 for various EE books, and free for a misadvertised electronics design book on ebay, International versions of a lot of the books generally run $50-$90 though.

One thing tho I'm taking a chem course that I never took 1st year (graduating this year), the book was ~$200, I just bought the online pass and torrented the book they have that bullshit online homework too.

>hatureep social

>> No.2810666

I'm going to play devil's advocate and wonder aloud why people bother bitching about textbook prices specifically, when American undergrad (tuition, housing, all of it) is so prohibitively expensive. And I like having hard copies of the stuff I read in Undergrad handy-I liked most of the courses I took.

Feel free to bite my head off now.

>> No.2810693

>>2809873
This.

Or just don't get the books. Friends are typically more than willing to show you the homework problems.

>> No.2810697

>>2810666

For a state school with no fin-aid (and this is the big one, I don't think book cost can get deferred), tuition/R&B can be ~8000-10000 a semester.

Your first semester you can easily drop $600-$900 on books, that's ~10% but more importantly it's not a deferred cost

>> No.2810701
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2810701

>>2810666
>plays devils advocate
>rolls 666

>> No.2810727

>>2810666
Both tuition and text prices are worth bitching over.

>> No.2810755

>>2810666
Because it's $200 per book, and you need multiple books.

Just buying the books you need for the semester can add up to $1000+

It's a not-so-insignificant cost. We bitch about all of it, the tuition, the housing, the books. Then, what we finally get after spending all that money, are foreign teachers who can barely speak english, and each teacher expecting you to complete 3 hours of homework every day for their class. [Let's see, I'm taking 4 classes, so that's 12 hours of homework, plus 8 hours of school, plus 6 hours of sleep, plus a coup - no wait, I ran out of time already.]

>> No.2810776

>education is required to get a decent paying job
>government doesn't own/heavily subsidize education
>US failing to produce skilled laborers
>politicians blame poorfags
>allofmywhy.jpg

>> No.2810777

>>2810755
It's like I'm really being trained for 80 hour work weeks!

>> No.2810781

>>2810697
>>2810755

I am aware of the current cost range of undergrad, as my post intimated. Thank you for playing, though.

>> No.2810834

>>2810666
US textbook prices are manipulated to be higher than the exact same editions printed outside the US. It is a crime to move external copies into the US for the purposes of resale.

>> No.2810853

Maybe you faggots should have worked harder in high school, studied for the SAT, and then maybe you would have gotten full scholarships to college.

They pay for my room, board, books, food, and I get stipend.

You are so jelly right now, you lazy, apathetic bastard.

OBJECTIVISM, HO!

>> No.2810900

>>2810853
They pay me while they give me my masters

Stay mad

>> No.2810943

>university in england
>computer science
>all textbooks are "recommended"
>mfw bought none, still at 90% average

>> No.2810950

>>2810943
I'm in America, and I have the same thing.
I only have one textbook for this semester, and it is a torrent. I only need the homework problems.

>> No.2810993

>OP has never head of Amazon.com

>> No.2811014

There are many ways of circumventing paying for textbooks:

1: Download it
2: Share with a friend
3: Go to the bookstore and take pictures with your phone (If you only need the problems)

There are others I'm likely forgetting...

>> No.2811040

>>2810046

this is a really good tip
doing it... next time around :(

>> No.2811048
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2811048

>>2810853
>mfw I got a scholarship, but the most I can get here is £1000 per year plus poor bonuses

>> No.2811418

Your library should have a copy on reserve use that for the semester...

>> No.2811433

Just by international editions. They have the same content for a quarter of the price and I'm not exaggerating on the price.

Try www.bigwords.com or something like that

>> No.2811574

Most college libraries will "reserve" course text books required for classes. At mine you can check out just about all required books for two hours at a time. Useful if the text is rarely used for the course, or just for scanning homework assignments.

>> No.2811906

>>2809770
Avaxhome.com
International editions
Copies from the library.

There, I just saved you 1000 dollars.