TheDiplomat Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Hi!Im doing some research on the price of text books in high schools (grade 9-12). Im interested in how much do textbooks cost in your country? Not for the IB programme necessarily but also for the normal, national high school programme?Also Im particulary interested - which countries provide textbooks in high schools free of charge?In Slovenia for example the textbooks for the national programme will cost you round 100-200€ (every year) if you buy new books, but one may borrow them from the school library for the whole school year and I think it cost somewhere between 30 and 50€/year (these books are to be returned at the end of the year).For the IB programme - almost nobody buys the textbooks. The textbooks are lent to us for a small fee(we get them from the school library and theyre new and nice whereas the national programme students get books that are almost falling apart). The books must be returned at the end of the year.Please answer as this research is important.Thank you Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Award Winning Boss Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 mine are free and i'm only charged for them if i lose it or don't give it back in a good conditionI live in england Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmi Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 I live in the USA. At my school at least, textbooks are provided to you free of charge. If you lose them or damage them to the extent you have to replace it, you have to pay the entire cost of the book, which can range anywhere from $40 USD to over $100 USD, depending on what kind of book it was. For example if I lose my calculus textbook it's only $45 USD, but if I lose my history textbook it's $100 USD to replace. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChikkyD Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 In Australia (most of Australia), the public school system buys all the books for the school and enough copies for the schools carrying capacity (lolbio). Each student then pays an optional fee of somewhere between $90-130, and then has access to any text resources they require, granted that they keep the condition good. If this optional fee isn't paid, then the school is able to charge the student for every book or text they would like to buy. One textbook can cost as little as $40, or as much as $120. It really depends. Hope this answers your question Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahlouise Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Wow. At my school, in Melbourne, Australia, I had to pay for every single one of my textbooks. I have to do this every year. I'm at a private school, so I think maybe that's how it works for them. It costs a hell of a lot though. My school library has some class sets of books, but not any that are specifically taught from that often, except for history. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChikkyD Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Wow. At my school, in Melbourne, Australia, I had to pay for every single one of my textbooks. I have to do this every year. I'm at a private school, so I think maybe that's how it works for them. It costs a hell of a lot though. My school library has some class sets of books, but not any that are specifically taught from that often, except for history. Yeah, I mentioned that what I said was only for public schools. It sucks that private school kids have to pay Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
URA BOAT Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 well i live in USA..and as far as i know in public school system you don't pay for books...but for the ib classes we got a choice if we wanted to buy them...if we do then we can write and take notes in them, but if you dont buy them you just have to give it back at the end of the school year...the books cost from $50-$150 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan810 Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Our school buys them in bulk and then lends it to us for the 2 years or 1 year depending on if you choose IB or NCEA (our national exam system) and we are expected to return them at the end of the lease agreement. If we fail to return the book, or return it damaged (so that it cannot be reissued to the next year), we're charged the cost of the book (usually $60-$120) as well as a addition $50 administration fee per book. Though my school is a private school in New Zealand, so i wouldn't know about public schools Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 at all three schools I've gone to, we all have to buy the textbooks... at private national schools (doing the national exams) the books cost up to 800,000 IDR in total (about 10 subjects in total so approx @80,000 IDR). at my school (private international) (doing international exams i.e. IB and IGCSE) the books cost up to 4,000,000 IDR in total. so you see the contrast.I think the books for national schools are generally much cheaper because they're published by Indonesian authors and because the international exams books are all imported hence expensive.note that 1 USD ≈ 8,850 IDR and 1 GBP ≈ 14,000 IDR. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaby Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 In Poland everyone has to buy their own books. At our library there are some textbooks but, for some bizzare reason, these are usually textbooks we don't use in class. We just lend them and make xerocopies for further study (it's about IB book). And IB books, we buy from Amazon UK cause shipping is free to Poland. In Polish system, you also buy your books but they are a lot cheaper than IB books (and, mostly, quite crappy). One would cost about 20-35 PLN (which is about 8$ or Ł6-7) and you would usually buy about 10 or so such books. It doesn't seem much but for some families it is quite a burden, especially if they have many kids and they sometimes can't buy used books because school programmes have changed recently. And for the poorest people, the country pays for books. But you have to be really, really poor to get them for free. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spereira14 Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 In my school in Uruguay textbooks are provided for free and returned by the end of the year, free of charge. However, most schools in my country make you buy the books, no idea at what cost Total waste of money and paper Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
khalid Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 I would say the range is between 50 USD to 100 USD, it really depends on the quality of the book and the course taken. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkHyldmo Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 At my school and most schools in Norway, the school provide you with all textbooks... This is a fairly new concept though, because a few years ago you would have to buy your own books. So like other school your books will be free of expenses, unless you lose them. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mariemarie Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 free! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
holly Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 In America when I wasn't doing the IB, textbooks were EXPENSIVE. I would always have to buy them old because old ones were pretty much the same condition as new ones and they were a lot cheaper. Probably about $60-90 per textbook or something. Some books were cheaper, but it was still VERY expensive. We got to sell them back at the end of the year, but selling them back meant selling them for $25 or something.Now I'm in Taiwan doing the IB diploma and I just borrow all my books. THANK GOD. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Free here as well. The school bought them for us and if we lost them, we had to pay at the end of the year. The condition of the book on return wasn't an issue... I've had some pretty skanky books handed to me in my time! I've never heard of a school where you had to buy your own textbooks in the UK. That's why it comes as such an unpleasant shock when you get to Uni! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summer Glau Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 In Canada you don't have to buy your own textbooks; they are provided to you by the school free of charge. Actually, where I live, there is a law which says that the school must provide you with a textbook for every course. Of course, if you lose your textbook, you have to pay for it but I've heard of a few people getting out of it (don't ask me how ) If you have to pay for it it costs around $40-$100 CDN. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 In Australia, you have to buy your books either first hand or second hand. Students also exchange books between themselves as well as sell their old books to others. I know that in private schools, first hand schoolbooks for the whole year can be around $700, which is pretty expensive! That's why many people decide to find their books second hand or borrowed from the library. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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