And frankly, I hated the dorm experience. I was used to doing things on my schedule and being more productive than my dorm-mates who were concerned mostly with partying as much as they could. When I was in community college, I had a part-time job (saved money), was more independent, cooked my own meals (way better than dorm food), was able to control my surroundings (quiet, cool/warm enough), and was treated more like an adult by peers/professors as a comm. college student than at a 4 year institution. Then again, I was/am more mature and happy to be an adult than the average person my age.

When I told my high school yearbook teacher, who was a pretty level headed guy, that I got into an ivy, he replied, “if my son gets into that school I would sell my house and live in a shack to send him there!”

Anyway, all that said, in about 10 or 15 years a lot of kids probably won’t even be going to college because it’ll be more cost-effective to be an entrepreneur right off the bat. Either that or the cost of tuition will go down considerably. It can’t keep increasing and in fact is beginning to be lowered at some institutions already.

Most textbooks are in the University library. If you’re fast or talk to the professor before the semester begins to find out which text s/he is using, you can reserve it for checkout at the beginning of the semester. Sometimes, libraries keep texts in the reference section- – well, you can read/make notes in the library. I even had one professor with double copies of the text he was using- – he loaned me one for the semester (with the stipulation that I wouldn’t get a grade until I returned it). Occasionally, you can find some texts in public libraries as well. Usually there is little or no different between editions- – and when there is a difference, the information is usually the same. Don’t do this with math books where problems are assigned out of the book for grading- – problems are usually the only things changed in math/physics type books. On the other hand, I went through one of my math courses with no book because even though he assigned problems from the book, he never picked up the papers. As long as I was on subject and could do the work demonstrated in class and using an old text on the subject I was fine.
Also, I never purchased a textbook until the first assigned reading. I never purchase a textbook until and unless the professor says “The final will be 100% from the book”- – which is very rare. Usually the say “from class discussion”.

Once I ‘rented’ a textbook from the student next to me who stated he was going to spend the weekend doing XXX. I paid a minimal fee for ‘renting’ the book for the weekend.

These actions saved me a stack of cash during my college years.

Also, see what you can do to test out of classes. I tested out of a semester’s worth of classes. That save me a semester of books, travel, study time, etc.

Rats. It’s not in our public library system, either (Waterloo/Cedar Falls). But they’re really good at finding stuff via interlibrary loan–half the time, they wind up buying to book for their collection after I return it–so there’s hope yet.

***

For what it’s worth, a higher-than-you’d expect percentage of students at community colleges come from out of the school’s designated “service area.” (At least in Iowa.) Heck, at my school, we oonly charge out-of-staters a premium for a single semester. Kids from more than an hour away generally live in highly dorm-like apartments adjacent to campus, so in respect their college experience is not wildly different from their university peers’.

@Jason–I live in Iowa too, would you post if you find this book at a library? PLDM doesn’t have it. tx

I was able to get a Soilsaver composter from my local beautification club for $15 (they were subsidizing the cost).

I always enjoy finding more things to add to my compost. Shrub clippings, leaves, potato peel, corn leaves and husks, hair, brown paper bags, coffee grinds with filter, tea bags, apple cores, end-of-season annuals, leftover rice, stale bread, watermelon rind, etc. I also keep a worm bin, which is fun. :)

Do you not move away when you go to college or university for the last 2 years? You get all the same experiences, but you have 2 years more maturity to be able to deal with some of the excesses with which you will inevitably be confronted.

Going to a 4 year university and wasting the first year by partying to the exclusion of studying makes going straight to university an even more expensive option than it first appears.

Plus, if you can get some of the credits at community college when you’re still in high school it means that you may graduate and be able to put your diploma to work earlier than by going straight to a 4 year university.

This is supposedly to prevent unscrupulous vendors from passing off refilled or knock off cartridges as OEM new ones. But this tactic is also intended to help the manufacturers sell more new cartridges. The manufacturers usually lose money on the sale of a new printer because they normally sell printers for less than the cost to manufacture it. The manufacturers count on recouping their loss in higher markups on ink and toner cartridges.

That said, I have been encouraging the staff at the remote sites I support for my employer to buy new OEM cartridges rather than the refilled ones from companies like Corporate Express. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve had to go to a site to look in to printer issues, only to discover the cause was a poorly refilled cartridge (especially if the company doing the refill failed to recondition that other parts that wear out such as the image transfer roller in many toner cartridges). Often the companies refilling cartridges use the wrong type of ink or toner, leading to printing that smears or even potentially damaging the printer. Toner is especially sensitive, since different types are designed for different temperature and pressure combinations. Use of the wrong formula toner can lead to caking of the toner on the fusor rollers, requiring expensive replacements.

While it’s often not as critical if a home user gets the occasional “bum” cartridge, if I have to go on-site the company is spending in excess of $100 for my time and travel expenses. Add in the potential lost sales if the sales department at a site can’t get a proposal out in time, or the poor impression it gives a customer when they are handed a printout of their bill that smears over their hands, and the losses far, far exceed the savings for using cheap cartridges for many businesses.

The first 2 years of “normal” college, moving away from home with all of the learning and independence as well as the roommates, friendships and experiences are some of the best experiences of many peoples lives. Giving that up to save a few bucks on tuition…nah…those memories are priceless. Think long and hard on this one.

So, your gifts might be regifts!

That being said, I’d still like Trent to elaborate on what Gregory Karp’s carp (cough cough) with textbooks is. I’m just curious.

The real pisser with some texts is that they change the editions often enough that you CAN’T sell back many books- they’re already outdated by the next semester! I can understand that with some science and current events classes, but in literature? Puh-leeze.

One family sent us two very nice kitchen gift sets they probably spent a total of $200 for. Unfortunately, we don’t need these items and can’t return them. I have sold one set on Craigslist, but for less than the purchase price. We would have preferred a gift card or cash.

Moral of this story, stick to the registry or buy a gift card. At the very least, include a gift receipt for items not on a registry. It’s not out of disrespect that we don’t want to keep these gifts, we just simply don’t need them and don’t have space for them.