Airwolf
Latter Alcoholic
+287|7190|Scotland

wensleydale8 wrote:

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.
glad I live in Scotland.
heggs
Spamalamadingdong
+581|6858|New York
Yes, it's very shitty. I spent an easy $650 a semester on Engineering texts, until I learned about half.com and amazon.com having international versions.

Seriously, from now on, look for the international version of these texts. I was able to spend like $375 instead of $650 one semester because I bought international versions. There is no difference in the the content, you'll only have black and white images, and they'll be paperback. Other than that, it'll be the same and it'll save you lots of money.
Remember Me As A Time Of Day
Vilham
Say wat!?
+580|7236|UK
Less people buy them than regular books, thus the price is higher to maintain profit, pretty simple really.
heggs
Spamalamadingdong
+581|6858|New York

SenorToenails wrote:

S.Lythberg wrote:

college costs in America are absolutely despicable

that should be among the top goals of the new president, it would definitely help the economy, and provide us with a more educated work force later on.
It would be nice if low interest federal loans were more available for undergraduate education.  Even more importantly, private education loans are the a manifestation of Satan himself (I'm looking at you, Sallie Mae).  They find ways to attach debt to young people that even bankruptcy cannot eliminate, with abhorrent interest rates (some higher then 14%).

That, and schools need to stop competing with each other in price.  The University of Rochester used to raise its tuition every year, and every time one of the 'reasons' was to stay competitive with NYU, who also raised their tuition.  They were tied in US News and World Report.

Then there is the interesting case of Harvard.
Actually, I've got about 26k in loans from Sallie Mae, and all 4 of my loans have less than 8% interest rates. I must have gotten lucky or something, and I use the word lucky loosely.

Going to Binghamton University was the way to go though: good engineering program from one of the best public schools in the US with a manageable tuition.
Remember Me As A Time Of Day
Phaytal
Member
+20|6624|Engarlandd
They're so high because the Suppliers know that you MUST buy them. So they can get away with charging obscene amounts... bastards.
m3thod
All kiiiiiiiiinds of gainz
+2,197|7141|UK
i refused to buy the recommended course textbooks when i was at University.  What the fuck for? I got the internet.
Blackbelts are just whitebelts who have never quit.
OrangeHound
Busy doing highfalutin adminy stuff ...
+1,335|7119|Washington DC

TrueMusou wrote:

What justifies them to charge 80 g'damn dollars for a piece of shit text book!? I mean how much money does it take to produce and publish the textbook?
It is based on "economies of scale".  All books have non-recurring (author salary, publisher profit) and recurring (cost of printing) costs.  Most text books sell just a few thousand copies ... and sometimes just a few hundred.   This means that each sale of the book has to be very expensive in order to recoup the non-recurring costs.

Let's say that the author wants to make $80,000 on his book, and the publisher needs $100,000 to cover formatting, editing, printer set-up, profit, and other non-recurring costs.   If the total printing of the book is only 2000 copies, then $90 of the cost of the book is going to these non-recurring costs ... tack on the $29.95 for a normal hardcover, and you end up with a textbook that retails for $120.
wensleydale8
Member
+81|7239|LEEDS!!!!!, Yorkshire

Airwolf wrote:

wensleydale8 wrote:

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.
glad I live in Scotland.
damn english government the robbing bastards.
Dear God please let my karma one day reach 100, whether it be tomorrow or 1000 years in the future i want it to happen.
SenorToenails
Veritas et Scientia
+444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

heggs wrote:

Actually, I've got about 26k in loans from Sallie Mae, and all 4 of my loans have less than 8% interest rates. I must have gotten lucky or something, and I use the word lucky loosely.
If you have a co-signer, the interest rates are a lot lower.  If I remember correctly, the interest rates without a cosigner are along the lines of prime + 6% or so.  Luckily I'm not in that situation, but I know people who are.

Last edited by SenorToenails (2008-06-17 10:16:32)

SenorToenails
Veritas et Scientia
+444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

wensleydale8 wrote:

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.
If that is only tuition and does not include the other mandatory charges or room/board, thats still not bad.  £12,000 = ~$24,000.  There are schools in the states that charge ~$36,000/year for tuition.  The total costs can reach $50,000/year.  Of course, you would be a fool to pay that much.
DrunkFace
Germans did 911
+427|7151|Disaster Free Zone
1. Each book has a limited market so the overhead costs are very high for each individual product.
2. They have a guaranteed market with no competition because it is the 'required' text book for a subject.

Solutions:
1. Don't buy the text books. More often then not you don't actually need it at all, and if you do, use the one at the library.
2. Buy second hand. Just make sure you get a copy it good condition.
3. Share with a friend who is doing the same subject.
Mint Sauce
Frighteningly average
+780|6756|eng

wensleydale8 wrote:

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.
You do realise that you just compared an entire term of Uni fees to a SINGLE text book..? Right..?

Yeah, there was this thin ass Physics book I needed for AS, about 80 pages, fucking £122.
#rekt
link52787
Member
+29|6992
I have over 20 books stacked on my shelf.  All of them were not eligible  to sell back to the school.  My university decided to change editions.  Have over 2000 dollars worth of books.

Last edited by link52787 (2008-06-17 14:16:49)

TrueMusou
Member
+36|6631|United States Of Hamerica

link52787 wrote:

I have over 20 books stacked on my shelf.  All of them were not eligible  to sell back to the school.  My university decided to change editions.  Have over 2000 dollars worth of books.
I recommend you take those books and throw them through the Uni's Bookstore.

Come to think of it, couple months ago, my Uni's bookstore window was smashed...go figures.
Blehm98
conservative hatemonger
+150|6933|meh-land
my calculus book last year costed like $125

a high school book too
Miggle
FUCK UBISOFT
+1,411|7212|FUCK UBISOFT

https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CLbKicvpi7nKzgEQ2AUYWjIIo4myQ-ExZ1M
https://i.imgur.com/86fodNE.png
mikkel
Member
+383|7071
Thankfully, I have stacks of excellent networking books that were all between $60 and $80 USD. Anything required for college, anything that doesn't have anything else to compete with, that's what you get fucked in the ass by. Publishers prey on students because they can leverage the concept of student loans to squeeze an extra 30-50% out of them.
Bell
Frosties > Cornflakes
+362|7019|UK

It's because there is only a limited number made every so often, it's not like there constantly printing them all year round.  And, they have a very narrow market, a niche almost, it's not as if the vast majority of the public are going to buy a textbook on engineering for example.  Finially, like you say your almost totally required to get them, so they can charge mark ups like that, who the hell are you to question it?  Buy another book?  Good luck   Welcome to life!

Martyn
wensleydale8
Member
+81|7239|LEEDS!!!!!, Yorkshire

Mint Sauce wrote:

wensleydale8 wrote:

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.
You do realise that you just compared an entire term of Uni fees to a SINGLE text book..? Right..?

Yeah, there was this thin ass Physics book I needed for AS, about 80 pages, fucking £122.
I now but seen as people brought up the topic of uni fees I though I may aswell post all the stuff i use anyway either get it from the libary or search for it online.
Dear God please let my karma one day reach 100, whether it be tomorrow or 1000 years in the future i want it to happen.
aimless
Member
+166|6595|Texas
Which is why you steal textbooks, then sell them back to the bookstore for a profit.
GR34
Member
+215|7015|ALBERTA> CANADA
they actually dont cost that much schools rip you off. I "wrecked" a text book a few years back and it had to have the spine rebound, they wanted to charge me $30 for it. I was curious and went to the txt book makers web site and brand new the book was on $20 so they try to rip you off big time

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