Fresh set of notebooks, pencils, pens, planner and a cleaned out book bag ready for a successful school year. Everything is organized and you feel prepared to have the best semester yet and truly tackle those college credits. You browse through each of your class rosters posted to see how many people you will know in each course. You begin planning who you will study with, work on assignments and papers with and, most importantly, sit next to when you walk in on the first day.

After game planning those basics, you decide to take a glance at the list of books required and recommended for the semester — and there your heart instantly drops past your ankles into the dirt. Your eyes unable to stay in their sockets come to the unsettling realization that your cheapest book is $65.72.

In this moment you were mugged by your books.

You decide to be responsible and order your books before you even meet the professor for the first time. You research the lowest prices on every possible book purchasing website. You type in the titles and copy and paste all their ISBN numbers hundreds of times by the end of it. Thankfully, you can find all the books you need for half the cost online as you could at your local bookstore, but those digits add up quickly. Your daredevil side reaches the surface and you decide to check your cart out and the item total is at 14. Eyes scroll to the bottom right at the dreadful total... Goodbye summer paychecks, it was nice to know you.

And the most heartbreaking part of all of it are these two factors: it being the wrong book and not actually needing it all semester. Nothing worse than purchasing a book and half way through the semester you realize you have never had to even open, read, browse, or touch the book. Waste of money and bank accounting draining. Good luck purchasing books this school year! We're in this struggling time together.