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xPismo said:
Huh? I must be missing something.

i was trying to be cute :)

actually, i worked for a couple of businesses in publishing in the 1990s and the profit margin is low, often very low, and it's hard to survive as a publisher from kinkos to mcgraw hill

individual bookstores, small and medium chains, and even big chains have had problems

however, individual textbooks from most publishers at full retail, or even 20-30% percent off, do cost an arm and a leg and even though the publishers don't really make a killing, the student is the real loser

...and as one publisher mentioned, most authors don't do that well, either...even if they are good and relatively well sold

...over here at uc berkeley near where i live, there was a massive protest against high book prices

with so many middle men in the publishing process makes a near guarantee that students pay more and the publishing company, and many authors, don't do that well, either

(but there must be some middle men in the process, as a whole, who do well...please, somebody tell me who they are and i will, i swear to god...join them ;) )
 
I work at the same university I attend (full-time employee and student) and nothing infuriates me more than students who never took the time to inform themselves about how expensive school is. Financial Aid is great, for those who qualify. My own goal was to finish school with no student loan debt. My wife is in her masters and I'm nearly done with my bachelor's, and we've met that goal! :)
 
d wade said:
or rich parents :D

Lol I think something called *guilt* would creep in. Now, I may not be paying for most of my education, but I did have to foot the bill for my campus apartment (money coming from summer jobs). Needless to say, that made me penny-pinch better than the lot.

Pinching means dividing meals in half (one for lunch, other half for dinner), reselling every book (unless it's a crucial engineering book), and drinking water (the free drink).
 
I was lucky in a few classes. Some of the professors would actually publish their own books in paperback and provide them cheap or print their own primers and handouts that contained everything we needed provide them at low cost. I was a science major and the reasoning was that the textbooks were out of date anyway.

We also had a competing independent student bookstore across the street from the university to compete directly with the university. Books were still expensive but we saved a few more dollars.
 
iGary said:
I've paid as much as 150.00 for a book that was required for one single class. A visual communications class, at that. :rolleyes:

Make sure you trade em' in at the end of the semester for dough.


Well all my engineering profs say to keep all your books as a reference library down the road ... which sucks when you need money
 
Books? Never mind books. What about tuition? Holy ****.

I'm too stupid to get a scholarship, and not willing to spend so much to attend a U.S. college, even public. A lot of international kids have the money, but aren't willing to spend 25-40 grand a year. I guess I have to go to Canada.

Why don't U.S. colleges lower their out-of-state tuitions? They can attract MORE international kids, instead of losing them to Canada.
 
cleanup said:
Books? Never mind books. What about tuition? Holy ****.

I'm too stupid to get a scholarship, and not willing to spend so much to attend a U.S. college, even public. A lot of international kids have the money, but aren't willing to spend 25-40 grand a year. I guess I have to go to Canada.

Why don't U.S. colleges lower their out-of-state tuitions? They can attract MORE international kids, instead of losing them to Canada.


I know, its horrible.

At one point, I was considering transferring to a couple of different schools in Canada. Converted to US dollars, tuition, room, board, everything, was cheaper than what I pay in IN STATE tuition at my current university. I can't even remember how much it was for Ontario (they were all in Toronto) residents to attend those universitiesbut I'd imagine it was pennies compared to what we pay in the US.
 
cleanup said:
Books? Never mind books. What about tuition? Holy ****.

I'm too stupid to get a scholarship, and not willing to spend so much to attend a U.S. college, even public. A lot of international kids have the money, but aren't willing to spend 25-40 grand a year. I guess I have to go to Canada.

Why don't U.S. colleges lower their out-of-state tuitions? They can attract MORE international kids, instead of losing them to Canada.

This is one of the reasons I picked ASU. My tuition is only 2k a semester. Still quite a lot of money when you think about it, but far less than anywhere else I could have gone.
 
Must be nice! I just finished paying cash for my associates out of pocket ($3500 in tuition) and the books averaged roughly $350 a semester (education and other liberal arts courses).

Now I'm faced with the daunting task of trying to pay for 2 years at a school where costs clock in at $26K per year. :rolleyes: :(
 
Jschultz said:
Must be nice! I just finished paying cash for my associates out of pocket ($3500 in tuition) and the books averaged roughly $350 a semester (education and other liberal arts courses).

Now I'm faced with the daunting task of trying to pay for 2 years at a school where costs clock in at $26K per year. :rolleyes: :(

do you have a state funded school near you? $26k sounds like you got into a very exclusive private university

i wouldn't do it unless it was like notre dame or something...you didn't get in there, did you?...if you did, say hi to rudy for me
 
It seems books are really expensive in USA. In China it's much cheap, I only need to afford 450yuan per year, which is 70dollars
 
cleanup said:
Books? Never mind books. What about tuition? Holy ****.

books are probly almost worse than tuition. i go to a big school... Florida State University, and it is only around $3,000 per semester. my high school was more than double that. although if you do go out-of-state, they charge out the ass. i was gonna go to Auburn University, but out of state tuition was over the top.

books however, are always insanely expensive, and it always seems like you can never sell it back because they are overstocked or getting new editions.
 
cleanup said:
Books? Never mind books. What about tuition? Holy ****.

I'm too stupid to get a scholarship, and not willing to spend so much to attend a U.S. college, even public. A lot of international kids have the money, but aren't willing to spend 25-40 grand a year. I guess I have to go to Canada.

Why don't U.S. colleges lower their out-of-state tuitions? They can attract MORE international kids, instead of losing them to Canada.


Because of taxes. I mean you don't have to pay any taxes to help fund the US schools anyways (since you are from China) so why should they lower out of state tuition??? School's have to get funded somehow. If you don't like out of state tuition, then come here and live in the state you want to go to school in for a year and then go to school. That way you will get in-state tuition.

Nothing is free in the world and just because you are an international student should not make it so you can get cheaper education here. Schools are like a buisness.

The reason they have instate tuition is so to keep as many graduates from that state in that state to help it's economy down the road. Most international students I presume get an education and then go back to their native country to work and if not that then another state. So my opinion would be to keep it as is with the out of state tuition or even raise it somehow.

However, private schools have everyone pay the same tuition some what's your point there?


Apply for scholarships and you will most likely get some. However from your post it doesn't even seemed like you tried to. Which in that case you have no reason at all to complain about going to a US school.

What's bad about your country's schools by the way?
 
dukebound85 said:
Schools are like a buisness.

unfortunately, that is very true but should only be true of private universities and colleges

we should return to state higher education that is completely free, set up financially like the public K-12 like it once was

somewhere in the states, fat can be trimmed off somewhere, or taxes raised in certain areas

btw (state of california joke here about wasted taxpayers money :) )...what is big and orange and sleeps six?

answer: a cal trans truck
 
My most expensive text to date was $299. It was some business law book. My cheapest was some leadership book $5.00.
As a grad student I am in debt and will continue to be in debt for the rest of my life. BUT...I'll have two fancy diplomas on the wall in over-priced frames to show for it.
 
I just finished my first year of A.I. and I spent £0 on books.

Most professors would tell you what books you could get if you wanted to do further reading but all that would be required is in their notes.

Some of them even told us about the PDF links that were hidden on their webpages to books they have written to save us having to buy the books if we were really interested.
 
Wes said:
I just finished my first year of A.I. and I spent £0 on books.

Most professors would tell you what books you could get if you wanted to do further reading but all that would be required is in their notes.

Some of them even told us about the PDF links that were hidden on their webpages to books they have written to save us having to buy the books if we were really interested.

Yeah but you're studying AI. I think it's inherent in the timeliness of the subject you are studying. Physics/Undergrad level engineering? Unless gravity or other constants are changing, the equations will be staying essentially the same.
 
Mav451 said:
Yeah but you're studying AI. I think it's inherent in the timeliness of the subject you are studying. Physics/Undergrad level engineering? Unless gravity or other constants are changing, the equations will be staying essentially the same.

Point taken that some fields change more than others, but I'm pretty sure the quantum mechanics books seem to change every five minutes with all the new particles they are 'finding'. ;)

Classics, history and etc. are constant for the most part and it makes sense that they can use the same book for ages.
 
Here is my biggest problem with college.

Me:

White

20 yrs old

Parents income - around 180,000

Parents debt - 900,000+ (yes they had to get a financial advisor they were going down pretty fast, but this includes a house and leases and stuff)

What Parents own that is paid off: Nothing (reallly they don't)

Help from parents financially: 3200 per year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Checked Fastweb.com for scholarships. Put in all my information: religion, sex, blaah blah blah.

There claim is 1.3 million scholarships.

Number of scholarships I was eligble for: 47

I've applied for about 20 or so, but have not recieved any yet... 27 more to go...

I just wish I had some catch to myself that could help me pay for college, whether it be my race, or my religion, or something... Oh well thats my rant
 
this all makes me glad my dad is debt free we own everything in the house, and that i'll come out of uni debt free, my dad is covering my tuition fees (1700 a year) and my liveing costs, and basically everything, it's awesome, (disclaimer, i'm not rich, my father is just financially sound)
 
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