Major Cost

It’s the horror and demise of college students everywhere: textbook prices. The dramatic rise in textbook costs has made parents, students, and professors squeamish. In fact, textbook costs have increased in cost by 812 percent since the 1980s, according to the Huffington Post. But how do these prices fare based on major?

As you might expect, different majors have different price tags-and I’m not talking a couple of dollars here and there. The prices of textbooks for different majors could mean a savings of around $200 or more per quarter.

The Most Expensive

According to a study performed in the last year through the University of California, Santa Barbara, Economics majors are the worst off for textbooks, paying around $266 per quarter for textbooks. With the six percent increase per annum on textbooks (according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office), economics majors are now paying almost $282 a quarter, or $846 a year. In the long run, however, many would argue that the high cost of these textbooks is worth it because of their large resale value online.

Another interesting read, the cost of high school

The Sciences

The sciences, especially biology, seem to have the most expensive textbooks per quarter. In-p[l reality, however, these books only cost about $234 per quarter, or $702 a year. However, many of these textbooks are now available for rental or for ebook purchases, making the price drop significantly and saving students a hefty sum in the long run.

The Humanities

Many majors in the humanities have it relatively easy when it comes to textbooks. The best example of this is the English major. Quarterly textbook costs for English majors this year should be around $130 per quarter or $390 a year. However, that number varies on the classes you take. Because English is more based in the technique of writing than learning a list of empirical facts, they purchase more novels than actual textbooks. Thus, the cost goes way down for textbooks.

This is what you will spend on elementary school

Tips for Cutting Cost

Though pricey textbooks cannot be completely avoided, there are some ways to cut costs. Here are some cost-effective ideas for purchasing textbooks:

1. Rent instead of buying; and I don’t mean through your college’s bookstore. Online textbook rental sites are a lot cheaper than your average bookstore’s prices. The only catch is that you have to remember to send your books back on time.
2. Buy textbooks online if you’re planning on keeping them for longer than a quarter. Just make sure you get the right edition and order it in enough time to get it before the first day of class.
3. If you have already bought them, sell your textbooks back online at the end of the quarter. Your book will fetch a much better price online than in your coursebook buyback center in the bookstore.
4. Consider buying ebooks before investing in paper textbooks. This option is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than its counterpart, saving students around 40 percent off its sticker price.

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Alec Pow

Alec Pow is a thorough and methodical Financial and Business Analyst with over 15 years of experience in financial statement analysis, Foreign exchange derivative hedging instruments analysis, modeling, and risk management, with a long history of writing for big news publications like Forbes, MSN.com, Washington Post, and many more.

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