I tried to find out what textbooks are required for the classes I am considering taking for the fall term. I want to try to find used textbooks again if I can. It saves a huge amount of money. Two years seems to be about how long you can expect a college textbook to be used. There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between. The only class I am 100% sure of for the fall term is MTH251 (Calculus I). All of the calculus textbooks for PCC have just been changed and there are no used copies anywhere that I've checked because the book is brand new. The books I need for this class could cost about the same as tuition for the class. The main book is $190.30 and a required course packet is another $13.40. If I end up needing the solutions manual it will be another $87.05. This is all for one class. Luckily, Calculus II will use these same books. So $150 per class per term is about average. I think the textbook for the digital photography class I'm considering is about $140. Who knows how much the astronomy class might be. Probably more like $200 or even more. I had been hesitating taking an online literature of science fiction class until I saw that even if I buy brand new for the required books it will only be about $25. The cost of textbooks and availability of used books could be a deciding factor in many of the classes that I take in the next year. I have a lot of elective credit requirements left and can pick almost anything I want for them.
I still haven't haven't had to take out any loans for school. But that could all change soon. I am now eligible (finally!) and have applied for for Pell grants and Oregon Opportunity grants now and may be able to get an additional $1000 per term if I can get a federal Work-Study position. I also qualified for a Perkins loan of up to $1050 over the next three terms. Using just these resources I can potentially get $6383 for school costs over the next three terms. This could completely pay for those terms, maybe even with a tiny bit left over for living expenses. If I get all of these awards I'm pretty sure I have at least enough money for living expenses for the next 6 to 8 months, maybe more if I'm careful. If I could get through my first 2+ years of college without being more than $1000 in debt I would be ecstatic. If I can continue to receive grants and work-study I might only have to come up with living expenses. But that's where the debt is really going to start to pile up. I think about $9000 a year is going to be my lower limit. Maybe I will surprise myself and do better than that. Realistically I think I can look forward to a minimum of $20,000 of school debt if I get a Bachelors degree. If I do graduate studies it could be double that. If I went to a private college like Reed, not that I want to, I could expect to pay about $41,000 per year just for tuition! I'm just glad that I will be able to go to a relatively cheap public university. And that they have some quality programs that I am interested in. Even if I graduate with a $40,000 debt, I believe that there is a good chance I could have it paid off within a few years.
I don't want to think about this anymore right now.
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