Yikes! Your Book List for Fall

Hey, guys!

I know that you're not even out of high school yet, but you might think about your book list for fall.

I assume that you have already scheduled your classes at your new college. If not, it's time to get cracking on that chore.

If you haven't applied anywhere yet, now is the time to be looking around at a few community college catalogs. Start by googling your local college--you may be able to slip in under the mat. Last minute admission does happen, especially if a parent or other relative is connected with or has graduated from the college in question. It's called "legacy admissions."

Back to books: Unlike high school, where the taxpayers pay for your textbooks, YOU and/or your parents will be responsible for buying your books, and they are expensive, $60.00 -$100.00 per book times five courses.

Oh, and did I mention that some profs like to pile on two and three books for their courses?

Yikes!

College sections of publishing companies spend a lot of money sucking up to your professors, offering all kinds of incentives for adopting their texts; in the end, you end up footing the bill.

Ethical? Of course not, but life isn't always fair, yada, yada, yada.

Anyway, after you have scheduled your classes, you need to get your book list into your hot little hand.

To get your book list, you need to know your course names, course numbers (including the suffix, for example, ENG101.05), and professors' full names. This information should be available from the registrar's office; you can either call or e-mail.

But always be polite because college administrators are used to rude students, so remember to use your most honeyed voice...

Now that you have your course list, call the college bookstore and ask, in your MOST honeyed voice, for an emailed list of your books, including titles, edition numbers, authors, ISBN numbers (a unique identifying number assigned to each book published), and your cost for each book. You may be informed that individual book lists aren't ready yet; if so, ask when that information will be available. You may also be able to get book information from the individual professors, but although professors make up their own book lists, they often don't know the end-user costs, so don't expect them to know this.

After you add up your book list costs, please pick yourself off the floor.

Now.

Show your parents the list.

After they call your new college a few choice names and pick themselves off the floor, let them know that some relief might be in sight.

In my next post, I'll offer you some quick tips for cutting book costs.

Ta, ta!

Ms. Snark