Babson Survival Guide Part 3: The Bookstore
While you only need to enter the bookstore a few times per year, they take a lot out of you while you're there. A lot out of your wallet, that is. Your books will cost a hell of a lot, especially freshmen year, and it comes out of your pocket (or off your parents' credit card if you're lucky.)
My books came to about $800 for my first semester, and about $600 for the next one. That's for used books! It really would be a good idea to have a credit card with a high limit on it for this purpose.
First, the bookstore charges super-high prices. That's just one problem though.
They also carry a lot of books that are "custom editions" just for Babson classes. That means that they take the same content as the other books and slap a "customized for Babson College" cover on it. Then they can double the price since you can't buy this book anywhere else.
The next problem could easily be solved if people weren't lazy, but it still exists: you don't find out what books you "need" until you get your schedule. And then you don't find out what you actually need until the first day of class. Then when you have a 90 page reading due in two days, you don't have time to order from Amazon.com.
The worst part will definitely be the "course packs." These are simply cases or readings prepared by Harvard Business School that you use during class. All you get is a stack of photocopies, but you pay $60-135 for it. Then you need a 3-ring binder to hold it. (3-ring binders at Babson's bookstore cost like $10 for a little one.)
What you can do
Although the bookstore is a tough competitor, there are a few things you can do to fight back.
The first is to order from Amazon and half.com, two very helpful websites. What you do is walk in to the bookstore and go to the back where textbooks are sectioned by course number. Be sure to have your schedule on hand, and walk around and find your course numbers on the tags below the stacks of books. Then just copy down the ISBN number from the book. Be sure to get the number from each book (sometimes the tags say "1 of 3" which means there are three books for that class.)
Take your list of numbers to amazon or half.com and search for them. Chances are you'll find the book at a nice discount. You might also find really cheap used books on half.com, some of which will be the older version. The thing with older versions is that the content is almost identical - usually the page numbers and some pictures are all that's changed for the new version. When the new book is $140 and the used, older version is $8 including shipping, I go for the older book! Try to take care of this before classes start or else you could fall behind.
Another idea is to share books. This is great if your roommate has the same class schedule. You can split the cost of the book and share it when necessary. This has its drawbacks, but saving money that can later be spent on beer is always a good thing.
The last idea, which is possibly the best, is to get the books cheap from someone who took the classes last semester. This works out for everyone because if you sell your books back to the bookstore, you only get 50% of what you paid. The bookstore then sells the book to someone else for 75% of what you had paid, pocketing a hefty profit for virtually no work.
Say Jack has a $100 book and he wants to get rid of it. He could sell it to the bookstore for $50, who would then sell it to Jill for $75. Jack could instead sell the book directly to Jill for $60. Jack gets more money and Jill spends less, and both of them can take pride in screwing the bookstore.
The problem here is logistics - Jack would want to sell his book at the end of the semester while Jill would want to buy it at the beginning of the next semester. But if you can get past that, there is a great classifieds site called DormItem.com (founded by a Babson student) that lets you buy and sell safely and easily without the bookstore. If everyone used that site and planned ahead, we could all save a lot of money.
Final tips
One final thing to remember is that not all professors teach with textbooks, but they have to list a "required text" on the syllabus. Sometimes the professors will tell you in class that you shouldn't buy the book, some will say that you probably don't need it, and sometimes they say you need it but it ends up being useless.
In general, for all the liberal arts classes with novels, you'll need to read the books. For science and IT classes, you usually don't need the book.
And one more final tip: watch out for professors who are also authors. They usually suggest buying their book or a book written by a fellow professor. Or they will at least mention their book to stoke their ego. So just watch out for that. Sometimes the books are good, sometimes not.
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