Textbooks the Most Expensive Book You Are Ever Going to Buy

     There is nothing that can be so expensive in college other than the textbook. Every class requires them and typically they are over $80.00 a piece. I know that many college students who are reading this are thinking "Damn I wish that mine costed that much"
 
    There are many ways to get textbooks and a few ways to knock down the price, I got mine down to about $50:

One: Go up to your Financial Aid/ Bursars Office and see if any of the loans or aid given is to cover your books. If this is the case they might hand you a certificate to go to the schools bookstore. The advantage is that you aren't paying that much out of pocket but you will have to pay off that debt when you graduate.

Two: Go on to a site like Amazon and buy it offline they usually have a good price on them.

Three: Go to a Site like Amazon and Rent the book, the drawback is that like borrowing from the library there can't be any damage or marks in the book when you have to return it.




Four: Go ebook this is the newest medium where for a fee you can have the book on your laptop, smartphone or tablet via an app. The nice thing is that you can either buy the book or rent it. Unlike renting a physical book you can highlight and make printable notes right in the book. I use CourseSmart for this as it has a really nice app for Android, my sister uses my account for one book and she uses the iPad app for it.

There is a difference in cost if you are on the fence of renting or buying the ebook. The price difference for my books was $266.83 for online prices only, if I went with the hard copy there would be a $475ish difference. Now after my subscription is up I will not have access to the book but I will still have my notes that I have taken which is all I really need because I take a ton of notes.




Fifth: Go to your school's library the professors usually have the book on reserve so as long as you are in the library you can use the book or at my school you may borrow the book for one hour only. This is FREE!

Sixth: Schools also tend to have forums or a bulletin board where students can directly sell the book to other students so typically this will be half priced books

Seventh: friends will typically let you share the book if you are in the same class or if they don't have the class anymore they might just give it to you. Just be sure that for option six and seven that the book is the edition that you need.

It Doesn't really matter how you get the book as long as you get it so you don't fail your class or kill your GPA.

Images are taken from stock photo and google image searches, I do not claim ownership of these. If the owners wish to see them removed please message me.

When you think that you trusted your project partner

I dedicate this post to my partner that I was assigned for the Final Project of Front Office Operations


     It is a pain when one must do group projects. It is a known fact that this type of project is the least favorite of students and also the most risky to assign. I have been screwed over before by being the one who does too much of it, Letting some one take charge then not let me work on it/ say I didn't do work on it and take credit for what I have done. This latest atrocity that I have had is the last time I do a group project ever and will fight tooth and nail if this type is assigned again.
     The last project was to do the fallowing: Go to a hotel in Boston, Interview someone who is a Front Deck Manager or someone who works in Human Resources, write a paper on your findings. Easy and takes only twenty minutes for the interviewing and then three or four hours to compile and write. Not a difficult thing to accomplish. My partner and I went and did our hotel visit and conducted our interview with the Front Office Manager. Later we did our paper and the computer died with the paper still on it. Next thing was that Our Professor said on the due date that we needed to give him something before he left to go home and finish his grading. So we went to the Library and I started a Google doc to ensure that if the machine died again that we could go and retrieve it out of the cloud. Turns out that while we were writing my partner had his book out and was plagiarizing from it. It did not occur to me what he was doing because we just came back from class so of course he had his book and I thought that he was relating some of the interview to class discussions, Like a good student would to gain favor points for handing in a late Final Project. That night I received an email explaining why we both got a zero for our work.
     I almost cried. This was more stress than I needed on finals week and I immediately went through and highlighted what it was that I wrote exactly in the paper and sent it off, also requesting a meeting. The reply was swift and was much better than I thought it would be. It said that I should not worry too much as there was a frantic voice in my reply and to meet him in his office so he could give me his solution. My worst fear was that I was to be expelled because my name was on the paper and there fore guilty by association. This was not the case instead I had two weeks to redo the paper using a hotel in my area as I was going home that day. Thank god I am on such good terms with my professor and the dean of academic affairs. I would never steal somebody's work.
     Any how I HATE my partner for this insult and I never want to work with him again. He shouldn't have been that desperate and stupid to plagiarize from a book that the professor would know cover to cover as this is the book that he has used for years, keeping up with the updated version of course but they never change much.

OCD (Off Campus Dining)

      This is more for the inner city student. Sorry to those like UCONN or UNH or anyone who is in a state like Maine or Oklahoma; For you this can be used when you are on a weekend getaway or on vacation in a larger city.
   
     There are a lot of options when you feel like doing some OCD stuff after the last time feeling like there was a lot that shouldn't be eaten off of the hot food buffet that the school supplies. It is possible to go out on a budget and still have up to a five star quality meal in one of the fanciest places in town. As this is the technological savvy generation Most of what I am going to cover is going to be on the internet or your smartphone.
     First the old methods for college students. College night. Most places have a college night of some sort which can range from once a week to once a year. Often times the student activities or housing should have a list of what is around and when special deals are happening and the stipulations that go with them. For example: I am apart of a few loyalty programs with some chain restaurants (These are worth it so take advantage most are free) one of which is FiRE+iCE on mondays it is $10 for students with their school's ID. The loyalty program gives me a discount for every time I go there and a free meal on my birthday. On college night I have to choose which deal I want to use as I can't do both. This is the only thing that I dislike.
     Next there is making reservations which is good to do if there is a popular restaurant that you want to get into or ahead of the long line. My general rule is that if it is over thirty minutes long then I go to another place. There is always the option of just calling the restaurant but there is a way to make those reservations work for you to help save money, what student or person wouldn't want to do that. There are websites and apps that one can earn points on like Opentable. This is the only site that I have found that I like. The web page is set up nicely and has a great app that uses your location automatically to find places to eat at in your area. The more you use it the more points that you earn towards dining cheques that are actually usable. If you don't want to set up an account with them thats ok as you can use your facebook account to log in. Often times you can kill two birds with one stone and make the reservation that will give you points and use a coupon, discount or whatever the loyalty program uses. On my birthday I received a offer from FiRE+iCE for a free dinner which I took advantage of and received ten points from Opentable when I made my reservation. WOOOOOOOOT.
Lastly just a google search is fine but there are TV channels dedicated to this lost art so take a look at your local listing and see what they have to say. There is Phantom Gourmet and it will show you the best places to go to on a budget and often these are better than the five star places. There are no words to describe how amazing it is and it is a global thing.
     It's ok to have an OCD moment at least once a week.

B.Y.O.S! (Bring your own spice!)

According to one of Murphy's law Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. the same can be true for the food that is sold in the cafeteria and in the microwave meals isle of the grocery store. Currently I am attempting to enjoy what could be called a chicken soup from the schools cafeteria and it is missing one important part to it. TASTE! This soup that mocks me on my desk is only in existence because the chef has a sense of humor and enjoys the pleasure knowing of the suffering that my tastebuds are enduring. Complaints will be made on the facebook page that they set up.

The best way to create a enjoyable taste in instances like these is an insult to the foods creator but when one is forced to live off of it exceptions in etiquette must be made. ADD YOUR OWN SPICE. There are more options then salt and pepper and lets face it sometimes that is not going to cover it. I am slightly annoyed with myself as I have forgotten my spice wheels at home after refilling the supply. The basic spices are in there except salt and pepper as the school does have these handy to students. My wheel includes; paprika, cayenne, garlic powder (which would do my soup wonders), onion powder, basil, cilantro, cinnamon, crushed red pepper seed, and parm. for you ladies this fits conveniently in a purse. For men suck it up and use a murse.

WARNING: Do not use in a decent restaurant chefs are armed with an arsenal of knives

Frances gift to the college student

     The French have given us many things to enjoy; The tasty french vanilla, creme brulee, art, rudeness, the white flag, bad jokes about coward-ism and French press coffee. There is no doubt that a student is fueled by caffeine and that the leading source is coffee. While other students prefer tea this can still be useful to you. Some colleges will allow a microwave in the room but not a coffee pot due to the exposed heat plate that the decanter will sit on. Some schools will allow a Keurig machine while others will not. But, fear not there is something that yields a superior cup of Joe to expensive modern ways to brew the mornings ambition.
     The French Press may seem alien to some as it tends to be a unconventional way to the American thought of brewing Coffee, Espresso or Cappuccino with our good friend Mr.Coffee. The difference is that there is not a place that this could be considered a fire hazard as it is only a glass vessel with a lid and a straining disk on it. Also the press is relatively cheap to buy compared to the coffee pot.
     To use it you will need the fallowing:

1. The French press
2. Ground Coffee, Espresso, Tea leaves what or ever your poison is that you love to drink while you cram.
3. A microwave safe mug / Measuring cup that can hold more water then your press can hold. (Some will turn to vapor while it heats up)
4. A drinking mug
5. spoon
6. *Fixings if you can't handle the purity of the drink.

• Step 1: Spoon the coffee into the press (see what the company recommends as to proportions for water to grounds or leaves
• Step 2: Fill the measuring cup and put it in the microwave to boil (Keep watching it at all times in case of overly rapid boiling)
• Step 3: Poor the water into the press
• Step 4: place the lid on with the disk at the top( Do not push the disk to the bottom as it will render the efforts useless
• Step 5: Wait about 5 Minutes
• Step 6: push the disk to the bottom
• Step 7: poor out and enjoy.

There are a ton of great types of flavors out there to explore and you are not limited by what k-cups are available