My son is a freshman this year at a University where he will live. He is my second to go to college, so I am familiar with the process.

We've been waiting for the school to post his textbook list. Instead, they have you click on a link which takes you to the University bookstore, where all your books have been added to a cart and you need just provide your credit card! That may work for some people, but I would like to shop around for new/used prices instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money at their bookstore.

Normally when you receive your textbook list, the ISBN numbers are included for each book so you can be certain as you shop you have the correct edition, correct version of the book. These are nowhere to be found. I emailed the textbook manager for the school, asking for the numbers, and just received this response:
"You are welcome to browse our shelves." I called the administrative offices and they told me they will not provide ISBNs to encourage purchasing through their store. Their BS story is that is ensures accuracy in the purchasing.

I am furious at what feels like extortion. I will wait until I move him in, and we will go write down all the ISBNs at the store, and I will not order one single book through the school during the next four years.

Has anyone ever encountered this??

Haven't had to deal with it personally but I am not surprised. The college is not a non profit so therefore they are going to have to find more ways to squeeze extra money out of people. With so many easy ways to buy used (or new) textbooks online, I am sure their bookstore profits are falling. This is probably just a logical step (to them), to ensure profit in their store. It sucks but I understand from their point of view. I'm sure many people will actually like the new system because it makes it easier on them. A lot of people don't want to "shop around" like us mycouponers

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Smurf is correct. I have a good friend who manages a college bookstore and know that they are really feeling the squeeze. If a college didn't have a bookstore, kids wouldn't have access to many things they need... and yet only carrying those products wouldn't provide enough income to keep the bookstore open. Books are the bread and butter of a college bookstore.

They could raise tuition a bit more than they probably already have and close the bookstore down completely... but that would not make for a good consumer experience for their students who do buy books on campus. If competing colleges have a one stop shop for books, they need to do that, too.... but the overhead is a drain they can't afford, so anything they can do to try to funnel you through their store short of insisting that you HAVE to buy from them is something on the table for consideration with the administration.

I appreciate their need to make money, but they will lose my money if I feel frustrated and pushed into a corner, which I do. They only have 2/3 of the course books listed, and my cart is already over $600. There is just no way I will or can pay that.

I am sure only time will tell how this improves or damages their profits.

I haven't encountered this, but, like other posters it doesn't surprise me.
And, while it would be frustrating, would it be that complicated for your son to go into the bookstore and write down the ISBNs for the books he will need for the term? With those, it shouldn't be that complicated to look for used books or books from a cheaper source.
Barring that, another option might be to email the professors or teaching assistants and ask for the ISBN/publication information for the books required for the term.

It doesn't sound like the college is close by or I bet he would go in and get the numbers. The first year my son was in college the books came to around $700. I told my youngest son to go with him to help him carry them. I figured $700 worth of books would be very heavy. lol Boy was I wrong.

I feel for you and hope that you can find better prices on the books.

Are you at least able to choose whether you want a new or pre-owned copy? Or do they only sell new copies?

I would imagine that there is probably more to it than just a marketing strategy. Most schools use pre-packaged campus management software that has highly specific fields pre-set, and the software developer probably sold them on this system. It sounds highly efficient for the bookstore, as it prevents them from needing so many people to work the floor in the store helping students locate books, etc. It would probably cost the school more money to upgrade the software so that it would share ISBN information with the end user. Yes, it sounds like an easy, easy thing to do... but that doesn't mean that the software people won't want $5K to activate that feature. If the bookstore knows that by providing you with the information they will be handing you over to half.com on a silver platter, they have no incentive to pay for a system upgrade.

I'd suggest just contacting the departments individually and asking what book is needed for his specific classes.

Thanks for the input. I told my son to start getting in touch with his professors requesting the info and we'll go from there.

I think this just was the icing on my frustration cake with the school. They have lost several forms we have completed, including calling a couple of days ago to tell us they could not find the medical forms our doctor completed 6 weeks ago, and will need them filled out again. Just the normal PIA stuff I guess!

Speaking of the professors... the software folks probably touted the benefits to the whole school of an automated purchasing system.

"Your professors won't be bothered by numerous calls from students who lost the information regarding what textbooks they need to buy anymore, and will have more time to devote to lesson preparation!"

Of course, that's only if cheapies like we MyCouponers don't go to their school - lol!

Can you tell I've been at one or two or three of these presentations? lol

As a former University student, once you get those ISBN numbers or name of the book and edition purchase them on half.com. This is the best way out there to get good cheap books the cheapest around. HTH

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The same thing happened to my son the first year. Half.com and Amazon are great.

OP do they provide the book titles and enough info to maybe find them without the isbn? I hate seeing the prices of college textbooks, seem like such a racket at hundreds of dollars apiece.

My son called me from the book store at school today. They get fin aid, so they could use it to buy their books, but whatever they don't use comes back to them in a check, so if they can save $$ anywhere it's to their benefit.

Here's the example.....His Calculus book was $125 at the book store, same book on Amazon used..... $20 SHIPPED!!

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Our schools have always been this way. When my oldest went back in 02, we bought the books new at the bookstore for the first semester, but after that he would go in and write the # down and order the books on-line.

Middle DS is starting this year and his school is the same way. We get a list of classes and when you log into the bookstore, it puts the book in your cart when you list your classes. I bought them used from the bookstore, but next semester he will either rent them from Chegg or half.com. I figured for the first semester I wanted to make it as easy as I could. He had enough of a problem finding the bookstore and paying for them.

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Once you get the ISBN numbers I would suggest just doing a search on the computer with the number. So many different sites on the internet sell new and used books.
My only concern is that your son is going to need these books sooner than you can get them to him.
My daughter is not in college but last year (8th grade) we had to start purchasing her books for school. I was not aware that we could buy used books and I paid college prices for her textbooks. This year I paid alot less but some I had to order from the school book site. Amazing that two textbooks cost $250 for 9th grade!!

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What disgusted me the most this semester was a $195 "book" which was actually a set of Loose pages which was "written"/put-together by the instructor and mandatory for the class.

Seriously??? How much of a kick-back is the instructor getting.

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Mary

That is horrible. My son had a "book" that was 70 cents. It was a book put together by the teacher. I guess they only charged for what it cost for making copies. I won't say what my son called your teacher that charged $195.

My son said part of the fee was for a key-code where you can go online to take the tests instead of filling in the circles on paper.

again...seriously??? Who does this benefit more...the kids/young-adults or the teacher who probably does not even have to grade the papers because it's done automatically. Sheesh!

He brought home a packet of pages wrapped in plastic that is about 1.5" - 2" wide. There are no wholes punched so the pages can be put in a binder. So he has them in a plastic folder that closes. Man I hope I can resell these after this semester. But with my luck the Professor will change a few words on a page or two and call it edition #2 making my son's "edition #1" obsolete.

Does anyone know who to complain to about this? No use complaining to the bookstore. It's not their fault. It's the administration that allows this kind of garbage.

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Mary

College textbooks industry is one of the biggest scams around. Charge $40-$100 for a book, change two lines in it making it no longer usable then the next term make the students buy brand new books making their old books useless and worthless. The people who think a college education should be within reach for all of us should do something to change the textbook industry.

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One more little rant...if you don't mind. When I went online to get the book list for his courses all it had was the name of the book, author and edition. I called the Campus bookstore to get the ISBN number and they refused to give them to me. "If we give you the numbers, you'll just buy your books somewhere else"....aaaa, yea.

So my son went up to school last month with the list of books he needed, went to the bookstore and wrote down all the ISBN numbers for the required books. (Fortunately, his school is only 90 mins away from us)

I was able to get 5 used books for about 1/2 the price the bookstore wanted for used. The only one I could not get was the $195 set of pages...does not have an ISBN...hmmmm?

Anyway...searching through http://www.booksprice.com to compare prices - I ended up getting the books from Half.com, eBay, and Alibris.com. (Alibris actually had a coupon for $10 Off $75 )

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Mary

The software that will allow him to take tests online actually costs way more than what it would cost to pay a graduate assistant to grade them. I know it sounds insane, but it's true. And while it would seem that the purchase price of the software should be spread out over time so that no one class takes the hit of the purchase, the annual licensing fees to maintain that service are equally insane. I know it seems like it should be inexpensive technology, but in order to have it interface with the campus's information management system is extremely expensive because the companies that can turn those features "on" charge a fortune to do so.

If a school didn't have that technology available in this day and age they would feel obsolete to students who have been raised in the information age and their satisfaction rate would go down... and if it goes down in too many areas, students transfer to schools that they perceive to be more modern.

I'm not necessarily defending it - I just know what's behind it.

Regarding the teacher selling his own material.... that does seem especially steep. Was it purchased through the bookstore? If so, the bookstore would have marked it up at the same rate it marks up other books, and the professor does need paid for the time it took him to create those materials... just like the people who put together the hardbound books are paid. It's not the paper you are buying, really, when you buy a textbook - it's the information contained therein.

I'm not saying it's not overpriced. It sounds like it absolutely is. But if it's 300 pages long, he probably paid Kinkos $30/each to copy them. The bookstore is probably marking them up 50%, so they probably paid him $90ish/copy, and he probably made $60ish/copy. That sounds like a LOT, but it would take a very long time to put together materials of that length, and years of expertise to be able to know what was put into that book. He's probably taxed at about 30% on the proceeds, so he is probably getting $40ish/copy.

Again - not defending it, just putting it in perspective. He is likely not pocketing $195 per book.

Glad I'm not the only one. $195 for a photocopy?? I would flip.
I ended up gathering the info and ordering from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, new books, since I needed them delivered quickly and couldn't wait for the other sites, and saved $175. I will use the used sites next semester now that I know what I'm in for and that I need to buy early.

Wowitsdark is right about the insane licensing fees the software developers are charging. One of mine is a comp sci major, and talks about this. His school was using one program for which they were charged a licensing fee of $3,200 last year. This year it is $12,000. Once the companies get the schools reliant upon their program, they skyrocket.

And some departments/teachers do accept "incentives" to use more expensive programs from the developers/publishers.

wowitsdark - Thanks for the info on the licensing fee. It makes me feel a little bit better. The "book" was only sold at the campus bookstore. I didn't think he was pocketing the whole $195. I, too, was figuring it would cost about $30 for the printing. That's why the $195 seemed so outrageous.

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Mary

This is what I was told. That for every book sold by the bookstore that is new the professor gets a royalty which explains why everyone of my daughters books this year is a NEW EDITION and you can't buy it on-line any cheaper so I am pissed off to say the least.
Same story with my freshman daughter and we had to go to the bookstore and get ISBN"S for a couple of kids out of state because the bookstore wouldn't provide these. Nice racket and no mercy. You would think with the cost of college these professors would have a wee bit of compassion.

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momshops, I think that on top of the fees you were talking about, there are often per-user costs that they charge, as well. I think sometimes there is a flat rate for numbers of users that goes up incrementally, like with each additional 50 students the school has to pay at the next rate level.

It's good and bad. Bad if you want to / have to use the system and are stuck with a fee, and good if you don't that at least you don't have to pay into the overhead for those that do.

ora, regarding royalties, I don't think what you were told is quite correct. My understanding is that if an instructor chooses to utilize a book that he/she wrote as the classroom textbook for his own course, he will get royalties from the publishing company if a book is one that they had published and mass marketed. They can get up to 10% of book sales in royalties. It's not as though the publisher pays *any* professor who will agree to use *any* textbooks. It's only if YOU wrote the book, a major publisher published it, and then you chose to use YOUR textbook in YOUR own class. You'd get a cut (up to 10%) of every book sold, not just to your own students, but to students across the country who were using the book you wrote.

It does make sense that if... for instance... a history professor authored a book on US History to 1877, and was teaching a course over that time period, that he would use his own textbook. Obviously, it would contain the events *he* considered central to that time period and would offer up the perspective he wanted to get across better than some other guy's book. He *would* get up to 10% of the sales... but he would likely have to disclose the fact that he was the author to the students. Also, if it were published and marked by a major publisher, the number of students in his own classroom would be a fraction of his income from the sale of the book.

NOW I AM REALLLLLY MAD.....i ordered DD 's Spanish Book used and save a little bit of money not really that much but I figured it adds up.
Well today they were told if they bought the book used they have to go to the books website and choose the $36.00 option for the on-line part. I didn't now this so now I have paid more because if you bought the book new it comes with this code. OUCH!

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my daughter rented all of her books from chegg dot com .her history book was going to cost over 200.oo if she had to buy it at the book store she rented it for the semester for 19.95.chegg even sends a free shipping label to send it back at the end of the year.They also buy books too!

When I was searching for books, I saw that site, but was a little leary. So you are happy with it?

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Mary

I rented 2 of my daughter's college textbooks through Campusbookrentals.com. I was going to go through Chegg Rentals, but Campusbookrentals gives a two week grace period in which to put the books in the prepaid bubble envelope to return and I felt more comfortable with Campusbookrentals' policies (and the reviews were better). One book we received was rather used (math) and one book came brand new. I would have rented all her textbooks, but I was afraid to rent a lab book. My Alibris lab book still hasn't arrived and it said it was to be there by the 1st. My rental books were here in less than a week.

My son just started college about two weeks ago. He had a list of the textbooks that he needed. All we had was the name, author, and edition. We weren't given any ISBN numbers either, but he had no problem finding them on half.com. I would highly recommend that site. We saved almost $150 by ordering them on there. They also arrived very quickly. He's a music major so it's hard to find many of his books since most students tend to keep their books. ~Lisa

I think they try to take advantage of new freshman and their parents when it comes to books....and fees and insurance and other things... Once your kiddo gets the hang of it, I'm sure he'll figure out how to get the books cheaper. My DS bought new books first semester freshman, took them to his room, and ordered the ones that he could save bigtime from online sellers and returned the bookstore books when the others came in (30 day return policy). He pays for his own books so he has motivation to be frugal.

cj/

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