As if purchasing college text-books ONCE doesn't hurt one's wallet enough, having to purchase a book again the next day because the first one was stolen is a real pain in the ass. Oh how I would love to meet the punk who took it.

Just had to vent.

Three books today, 75 euros. Convert that to dollars, someone, more than $100 I think.
Luckily I have the other <30 books required already.

And that sucks, Stangmar.

There's a special level of hell reserved for people who steal school books.

That must have hurt you. I'm not sure what sort of financial support you lot get, but over here, students have about 150 a week - that's for food, accommodation, school books, supplies, transport, everything. I'd imagine it's fairly similar.

That's horrible. As if the publishing companies don't already rob enough from you I'll be glad if any of my books are under 100 this year (well, seeing as I'm talking lots of hippie courses it should be )

Remember the good ole days? When you could buy books used? Saved you half the money. Those were good times. Until the evil Teachers Association got together with the tyrant Book Making Organization to release a new version of their books every year, with minor changes as an excuse.

Memories...

Financial support? Huh?!

Why, when I was in college, financial support consisted of me getting a job and my boss financially supporting me in comparison to the number of hours that I was present at the place of my employment.

Hmph.

yeah, our system, If you work and earn too much your financial support gets reduced, if it's reduced to 0 for multiple weeks the support is cancelled and you have to fill out the hundred forms again to get it back. At the same time this costs you certain medical benefits.

Ditto.

Also, where do you people get books? I've had to pay up to ~$500 for just one semester's books.

Yeah, no joke. Talk about an arm and a leg. What really bothers me is when a prof requires the 200 dollar hard cover for their class....
THEN DOESN'T USE IT!!!! LSJFLDSFJDSLK......

Ok.. I'm done, some people just reserve a special, unique place in my heart.

This sounds familiar.

We do have the option of student loans from the government, but if we have any type of income (work, inheritance, etc.) we're not allowed much because you already 'have means', or if your parents make a certain amount of money you don't get much because 'they can pay'. I've seen a few of my friends having to go to banks just to get by, because their parents really didn't have the extra money saved away to help them through school.

Book prices scare me, I wont look forward to going shopping for those.

I got a Pell Grant plus a $3000 annual scholarship from my college, which covers tuition, housing, and part of the mandatory meal plan. I had to chip a chunk in on the meal plan and I had to buy books. None were even close to being under $100.

Ouch, all of schooling fees have/are coming out of my own bank account.

Until recently, I worked for that particular organisation. In training, we were told to "lie through our teeth" to get the customer (you learn another language when you walk in) through the claim and off the phone, so the CSC CSA (Customer service centre customer service advisor, read, desk jockey) could handle them face to face. Working in the system you can see the insane amount of checks and balances put into the system for no readily discernable reason.

Centrelink is, perhaps, evil incarnate. I wonder if I signed away my soul without realising it.

That's so much bull. I hate schools that do this. They force you to eat at the school which only makes more funds for them. School is suppose to be about learning, it shouldn't be ran like a business! They should go out of their way to help students spend as little as possible. Gah.

Yeah, my books are at least $500/semester. It stinks. I always go for a few weeks without buying them to see if the teacher uses them in class or not. Most required texts I've found are not used. Even if they do use the book before you have it you can easily walk to the book store and get it after classes.

The real thieves are the colleges and universities!

As a note, if you get really nice representatives or salespeople when visiting, they'll give you helpful hints on when to buy your books and whether you can buy used or not. (This is just an added note, not directed to Ardmore!)

They're not all out to get as much of your money as they can.

Not them -all- but the one I attend is. Worst. School. Ever. Would never recommend it to anyone.

All of my books are used, except for the two $10 little supplement books for my communications class. I went to the bookstore today to get replace my statistics book, but they were sold out
I've put my name on the list for when their next shipment comes in, but I'm still checking Ebay anyway. Probably end up buying my book back from the thief

That happened to a friend of mine... only it was his car stereo equipment.

Up until last year, if somebody had stolen my stereo, the joke would have been on them, because it didn't work anyway. Now i take my stereo out when i'm in the city. Also, somebody located my book and is meeting me later to return it