Textbooks @ USNA

M

MIHOSER

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
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I am used to the textbook scramble at the civilian colleges, i.e. rent, buy used, getting the ISBN codes surreptiously, etc. - how does it work at USNA?
 
You are "issued" the books for your respective classes each year. You go down to the store and find the books for your classes and you swipe your credit/debit card. I think plebes can use their funny money cards. Some of your held pay is supposed to go towards books I believe. It is all some funny accounting that USNA uses to bilk you. For some classes, you will definitely be able to buy books online and then sell them when you are done. It isn't complicated, you'll figure it out.
 
Plebe year, you show up with your ID and they give you a box and then you leave. Its pretty simple. The next 3 years you show up with your ID and they give you a smaller box, then you show up with your schedule and go through whats basically a bookstore and grab books and then you leave. Also, pretty simple.
 
I believe you can also sell them back at the end of the term.

USED to be able to do that, at any rate.... :cool:
 
You CAN sell them back... but I've found you should wait to buy books to see if you'll actually need them (not the case with math, engineering, and languages) but most other things. And DON'T buy from USNA, buy online. Usna rips you off.
 
death_by_happiness said:
You CAN sell them back... but I've found you should wait to buy books to see if you'll actually need them (not the case with math, engineering, and languages) but most other things. And DON'T buy from USNA, buy online. Usna rips you off.
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I doubt plebes have any choice in the matter.:smile: I found I always used all of the assigned books. One of the things I liked about USNA (compared to grad school) is that they only made you buy the books you'd use. However, it was a long time ago and things may have changed.
 
I sure hope it is better than a civilian college. In our experience for the past two years of dual-credit classes, we've spent over $1000 on books. We only bought the books on the "required" list, several of them son never even cracked open. When we tried to sell them back to the school, they were not buying "that" book back at this time, for 4 of the five we purchased this year. Someone told us to try to sell them on Amazon, so we may try that. I personally think the entire textbook industry is a rip off. I mean, really, $400 for one book?
 
MomoftheMagik said:
I personally think the entire textbook industry is a rip off. I mean, really, $400 for one book?
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Now you know why I think you won't see textbooks on Kindles, Nooks, or iPads. They'd lose their ability to make money by screwing the students who, after all, are in a monopolized market.
 
Let me put it this way. I was an econ and poli sci double major, and at one point I just decided not to buy my books. Turns out I didn't need them. Teachers are required to have textbooks, no matter what, even if they're no good and don't plan on using them. And yes as a plebe you'll be issue pretty much everything.
 
californiamomtoo said:
Interesting... was not aware of this... curious what we should budget for?
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You don't need to "budget" for this. The funds will come out of your "funny money" account -- see the thread for "Other Expenses" on this USNA board for details on this account and how it works.
 
Some classes didn't use the books because the course coordinater might have final say on the textbook but your individual prof wouldn't use it, I always waited till a few classes in to decide wether to buy or not. Of course that doesn't apply to plebes.

I remember one semester the administration did a survey of how many classes we never touched the books for, sure enough the next semester we used the books a lot in every class. Be careful what you wish for.
 
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