Ok, so I know this isn’t the BIGGEST gripe in the world, and no one probably gives a shit… and this isn’t much money… but FUCK! I just found out that I’m gonna have to spend a good $250 on books for the next term, and I’ll tell you what, it pisses me off! Not only that, I have to buy some pointless CDs for a world music class. Wouldnt it be better for me to spend that money on a concert ticket so I can actually SEE what I’m studying? Anyway, I got off the point. All I’m saying is that it is a total fucking injustice for these people to charge so much for books, especially in a lowly community college! I mean come on, in a big university, I can see having to pay all that because you need the top quality stuff. But what I’m in now, is absolute hell. Get this, I have to buy a book of CLASS NOTES… I’ll repeat that… I HAVE TO… as in MUST… as in IT IS MANDATORY… for me to PURCHASE a book of NOTES. Please tell me you see how fucked up that is! Oh and if anyone has to pay more then me… well it sucks to be you! :smack:
I always hated having to buy the books. That’s how the stores make their money though. I think once, I had to pay over $300 for books. I went to Shippensburg University and I spent a lot of money on books.
For my summer classes, I have so far purchased no books. I checked out what I could from the library, used the ones on reserve where possible, and borrowed from friends in the class if I couldn’t do that. There was just no money at the beginning of the summer to buy books, so I went this route.
I do have one textbook that I will buy, simply because it will be a good resource to have when I finish.
For this fall, I’ll probably buy most, if not all, of my books. With the seminar…I’m figuring between $200-$300.
You’re right.
It’s not the biggest gripe in the world.
So, since you at a lowly community college and, therefore, shouldn’t have to have these ‘top quality stuff’ materials…
can I assume you think your courses shouldn’t transfer to a 4-year college as well?
Wait until the other end of the semester. After a couple of years, I just stopped selling them back. Some of the books remain useful and/or interesting to me after I graduated…and it’s not exactly as if I’d get that much money back anyway…
Believe it or not, you’re going to learn from those books (preferably borrowed from someone or bought second-hand). Even when you go to a concert, you’ll not likely get the full range of stuff taught about in that class.
When I took Music Appreciation a couple of years ago, requirements were:
[list][li]Buy the book (luckily, one & it was cheap).[/li][li]Attend a minimum of two concerts and write reports about them.[/li][li]Weekly quizes, one midterm, and one final.[/li][/quote]
As it turned out, the stuff in the book & the class helped me understand the concerts better.
p.s. Community colleges aren’t lowly. Some of the best teachers I’ve met are at community olleges.
First off, thank you Bryan and Andy for contributing absolutely nothing to this planet… much appreciated. Anyway, the fact is, yes these things are useful and I will end up learning a great deal from them. On of my regrets from the last term was selling back a very expensive psychology book, because now that I look back, it was a really good tool. As for this year though, a couple of things are looking pretty pointless to buy, thought I will have to get em eventually. Oh and for you andy, see what I’m taking now is mostly general education classes ok… meaning they have nothing to do with what I’m majoring in, yet are required by the state. So the question of if they should transfer or not should be asked secondary to why should they be taken at all don’t you think?
BlackLabel1,
I took some offense to your attitude that community college isn’t really college. If you feel it isn’t really college then you should also believe your courses shouldn’t transfer.
Community college is college. That is why courses transfer.
As for your not liking general education courses…tough. You are trying to get a college education, not going to a trade school. Traditionally, colleges believe that a college education requires you to study a breadth of material, not just your major.
Not to slam you personally, but I used to teach college. Many students have your beliefs. They are not interested in an education but in learning a single discipline and then using it to get a job. They are not interested in getting an education. This is what trade schools are for.
Can you ask your professor to put a copy on reserve in the library? I know people who have never bought a book in their college career because of the library.
You might also wait a couple weeks into the semeseter. While this might harm you because most of the used books may be gone, you may find out that some of the materials arn’t really needed. It’s not unusual to show up for a class to learn that at least one of the books is optional, or only involves one or two reading from it (in which case you can borrow, go to the library, or just skip the reading). I know skipping readings is a bad idea, but sometimes in GE classes the readings are truely pointless and if you can pass the class without buying the book more power to you. I’ve done it plenty of times.
Finally, get creative. You can go in with a few people and throw a “listening to the CD” party once a week. Mix up a batch of margaritas, put on the CD, and kick back…
But yeah, books are a scam, especially big heavy lower division text books (as opposed to the smaller primary-source style texts and articles you are likely to encounter in your upper division years). But just because they say you need them doesn’t really mean you do. Go to a few classes, see if they really are that important, and see if you can find some alternative way of getting them. Especially check out used books online.
I don’t really mind buying textbooks, but I hate having to BUY the teacher’s lecture notes!! None of the other profs mind putting their notes up on a website for us all, for free. But then there are those one or two guys who insist you must buy their notes. Argggh.
I understand your gripe about the books BL1, but why dont you just copy the Discs that you need from another class mate? Providing of course that the discs arent sold with the book, and if a friend is taking the same classes, is it possible to share the books?
What’s up with this business of buying lecture notes? I thought you were supposed to take lecture notes. Why on earth would the professors want to make it easier for everyone to skip the lectures?
By the way, I’ll be teaching my first college-level literature class this fall (whoo HOO!), and you’ll be pleased to hear that I’ve ordered Dover thrift editions of most of the texts we’ll be reading. Can’t beat $1.50 a book.
First off, I’ll apologize to andy because I was a little pissed off earlier… my bad! Secondly, the thing about the notes is just plain stupid, I mean notes are supposed to be taken by the student aren’t they? And as for the trade school stuff, that is a good point, but the things I’ve seen everyone go through at community college is rediculous. See I understand about taking the required classes, but the thing is, those classes aren’t always available for everyone. They give people priority who have been there longer, so while you wait for available classes one or 2 years down the line, you have to take things that you normally wouldn’t, and therefore spend money you don’t really have. Now as for a solution to all this, well to be honest I have non but then again I’m not an administrator. Anyway, I’m gonna do some shopping around for the books and stuff, but the thing that still really pisses me off is the buying notes… I mean come on…
Blacklabel!
ROFL!
Sorry…you just decribed every college I’ve ever seen! Closed courses everywhere. It sucks! However, I think what you are experiencing is near universal.
The reason it happens is that you are paying a % of the true cost of your education. My guess would be about 20-30%. (It used to be less but tuition has been screaming up like nuts). The rest of the money comes from taxpayers. Taxpayers pay a certain amount of tax and the college budget is set accordingly. They hire what they can.
Now, if they limited the number of students that could attend college, things would be fine (for the students who get in that is). However, many colleges and virtually all community colleges MUST accept (by state mandate) all qualified students. Therefore, there are more students than teachers to teach them.
Result – closed classes and many of them. I don’t mean a particular class but ALL classes - like no College Algebra open or no English Lit.
It sucks but it is a funding problem. While I think colleges could cut some flab and concentrate on teaching, they are limited in what they can do so blaming college administrators is mostly a wrongly assigned blame.
I know you’ve heard this and it sounds wrong, but it really isn’t a huge deal. Not as much as you think. Sure, you may end up taking Anthropology instead of Greek Lit and that may upset you (if you like Greek lit that is) but it is good to be exposed to different things. You might like Anthropolgy. 
When it comes to your major, the faculty will take care of you after your first year. I have never had problems with my majors courses. Of course, my majors were math and computer science so YMMV 
but faculty take care of their own.
However, first year students are not even considered human so don’t expect much help now
Books are the biggest scam on the planet. Allow me to elaborate.
Summer semestre, 2002. Bought a used Speech Communication (general ed) softcover textbook. It had a border of black electrical tape, like a picture frame, surrounding the front and back covers of the book. It was also on the binding. I thought nothing of it because it was a used book. One day, I was bored in class and started peeling it off. Underneath the tape, there was a black border that read “Editor’s Copy Not For Sale.” WTF?!
Spring semestre, 2003. The new psychology book came with a practice test booklet included, and sold for about $120. The bookstore sold the used textbook for $60-something and the practice test book for $60, thus making the same amount of money as for a brand new book. Again, I say, WTF?!
Summer semestre, 2003. There are nine required texts for my classics class. Nine?!?! WHAT IS THAT?!?!
Copying the CDs from another student is a great idea, if it’s possible. At my university, though, the CDs are not able to be copied and expire after 120 days.
Good luck. That sucks.
$250 ain’t that bad, sadly.
One semester I paid (well, taxpayers did, actually) over $500 for my books.
On the first day of one of my classes, the professor held up a book and said, “This is the book you should have.” It was not the book that everyone had bought. It was not the book that the bookstore had listed as being for the class. When this was pointed out to him, the professor said, “Oh, well, that’s ok. We’re not going to be using the book really anyway.”
So why the $*@# did I just pay $70 for it?!
Blackknight, I had several books like that last year, went out bought them all, used them maybe 3 or 4 times all year! The lecturers must think we have nothing better to do with our money.
I guess I got lucky in a way though, I bought my books at the bookstore in town instead of at the college store, and so for some unknown reason the books were still priced at the irish punt price instead of the euro price, the changeover had been nine months previous, so I got them all cheaper because the cashier didnt notice and either did I until we were comparing prices later at college!
Something I discovered about “required” texts back at my community college: The instructor sometimes lists even optional books as required so those who are receiving financial assistance for books (there’s a program for that in California) won’t have to shell out cash for those. That program pays nothing for optional books but foots the bill entirely for required texts. So, perhaps the best idea is to wait until the first day of class, get the syllabus, and find out which books are really required.
Idle curiosity aside: Delly–where in Ireland are you attending school and what’re you reading?
I had 12 books for a stupid introductory political science class. Okay, so half were softcover, but still about $15 a pop, used. I should have just gone to the library for those, because we read maybe a chapter from each. Live and learn. All told, my first semester of college, I had just under 30 books.
Oh, and one of those classes actually only required 1 text and one workbook, which were sold out at every stinking bookstore, on campus and off. Buying books online wasn’t really an option then. Half of my section couldn’t get the books for a month, and we did have to use both after every class. That was a huge pain in the keister.