Uni books. Mature student. I'm so screwed!

[NeonBella]

There's literally nothing I can do about this and starting this thread will achieve nothing but...
I've just had my next year modules confirmed today and have logged on to the uni site to check out my reading list.
Baring in mind that I've only looked at the first semesters core reading (now too traumatised to look at sem 2!).
It's looking like close to £300 for 3 modules core reading material.
Fucking hell!!

I'm a lp. This is not going to happen. I guess I'm pretty much screwed.
Fuck.my.life.

Lots of great advice already about using ebooks and purchasing second-hand older editions online much cheaper.

Two more ideas:

1. Have you got any books from your previous studying that you could sell? If so, there's online purchasers that will take them, which would offset the cost of the new ones.

1. Not so relevant for books, but if you need online journals and it's one your library doesn't access, you can use Unpaywall which is a not for profit open library which searches everywhere for copies of journal articles, I use this so much. unpaywall.org/

Good luck!

I bought a small handful of books for my degree, would never have entered my head to pay hundreds for them.

What degree are you doing?

In the library, core books could be reserved, meaning the students who had rented them out couldn't just keep on renewing them.

Would it be cheaper to print out essential parts of the e-book?

As @Ylvamoon it's definitely worth a visit to your local council library. Mine is part of a consortium of 14 counties. For a 3 pound fee, you can reserve titles from any of them and order them into your local library. Even if you can only get a few of the books, it'll still be a saving for you.

I’m not sure I even used most of the core books for my degree. I’d wait and see what you actually need to buy.

As a follow up to my earlier post - my lecturers had endured they the uni library had multiple copies of core texts. Where they were expensive they were for in-library use only, which although a little frustrating did ensure that nobody could hog them.

I got a 2:1 from a Russell group university without buying a single book in 4 years study. I used the library and online journals. You don't need to buy the core texts, you just need to access them.

Borrow from a friend, use short hire library books (our were on 3 hour loans so they couldn't get snapped up at the start of semester), access texts online.

Buy second hand if you must.

There are sometimes local charities/trusts that provide help for people studying, might be an idea to google and see if there is anything you can access

Can you not get second hand books? Any students flogging old unwanted ones? People at my uni did.

My university gave us a £100 bursary (John smiths voucher) to use on books. Check if yours has a similar scheme. If not, the uni book shop might sell course-specific bundles which work out cheaper

@NeonBella

There's literally nothing I can do about this and starting this thread will achieve nothing but... I've just had my next year modules confirmed today and have logged on to the uni site to check out my reading list. Baring in mind that I've only looked at the first semesters core reading (now too traumatised to look at sem 2!). It's looking like close to £300 for 3 modules core reading material. Fucking hell!!

I'm a lp. This is not going to happen. I guess I'm pretty much screwed.
Fuck.my.life.

There are so many options open to you enabling you to find the books you need, starting at £0!

Being a university student you should be able to use your improving critical thinking skills!

In 60 seconds, write down at least 10 ways to find the books you need, I'll start you off...

1. ASK ON MN!

If your FML for today is sourcing books you're onto a winner and if you truly believe you're screwed because of this then you aren't really ready to bounce into your 2nd year!!

This week my FML was being rushed to hospital with a GCS of 4 and a dangerously low blood sugar... Not too bad, but I'm not diabetic and already need a lot of care.

Id swap you any day. Send me your book list and I bet I can find what you need free or cheap!!

Whilst I understand that everybody learns differently, I have to admit that I recently completed a BSc without ever really picking up any of the core reading material. Got a First, too, so depending on how you feel, it's definitely possible to succeed nowadays through other means; there's simply such a wealth of resources available online in multiple formats (particularly once you have an institution Shibboleth/Athens login) that it's hard to ever draw a complete blank when studying. YMMV though I guess, depending on subject type 🤷

I wouldn't buy them. I didn't for my undergraduate and I won't be for my postgraduate either. Just get the ones you need for specific assignments, read sections online (I understand not wanting to read a whole book online but a chapter? Print it out?) and borrow other similar books from the library for your research and bibliographies.

I don't want the comment of @Duckchick to get lost, as this is a very easy and cheap way to get the physical books and keep them a while. You simply go to your local town library, not the uni library. You ask for an interlibrary loan and pay about 3 pounds and they source them from other libraries for you to borrow. You can then keep renewing them, assuming no one else requests them. If you order this week, I think you'll find they can get hold of the majority. They really are good at this generally.

@DontBeAfraidToAsk yes I fully agree with you.
I had an overly dramatic wtf moment more out of frustration than anything else. I too have had much worse days than this and would take the frustration of not being able to afford books over those things.
I hope you're on the mend and it was nothing too serious.

I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the responses to my post.
Thank you everyone. I will definitely look into any type of discretionary fund available to me Healththrowaway199
I think I just panicked because every penny I get from my loans and bursaries are accounted for. Rent, food etc.

I'll save looking at semester 2 core texts for another day 😂

@NeonBella

There's literally nothing I can do about this and starting this thread will achieve nothing but... I've just had my next year modules confirmed today and have logged on to the uni site to check out my reading list. Baring in mind that I've only looked at the first semesters core reading (now too traumatised to look at sem 2!). It's looking like close to £300 for 3 modules core reading material. Fucking hell!!

I'm a lp. This is not going to happen. I guess I'm pretty much screwed.
Fuck.my.life.

There's a learning support grant from student loans it's about £800 per term you'll be entitled to that

Google Scholar can be useful too.
I prefer hard copies of academic books but found printing chapters can work too.