2008 Woodie Awards
Buying textbooks angers students
Colin Gettig
Issue date: 1/21/08 Section: Opinion
Returning to Clarkson means a lot of things. Seeing old friends, regaining that sense of independence and responsibility, and knowing that you're going to have to return to classes and pretend to care before failing the first test and giving up to the bottle.
Then there's my favorite activity, buying textbooks. Now if you have lots of money or maybe your parents still help out, buying books is easy. You go to the bookstore, head down the stairs, and before you lay shelves and shelves of books for every class. You just go and grab the book you want, pay for them, and leave.
Life is beautiful.
For the rest of us who can't afford to drop $500 on books or want to try to use some of their Christmas money for something they actually want, we seek other options.
Used books are still too expensive, especially considering that the store bought that book for only $20 and are making around $60 to $80 of pure profit when they sell it to you at a "bargain" of around $100.
Buying online is usually a better option for penny-pinchers, but still you have to pay for shipping and wait a week or two for them to get here, all while hoping the book you get is the book you actually ordered and in decent condition.
I've found the best option is to buy them off people from last year, cutting out the middle man, and saving you the most money, while also allowing the seller to recoup more of his losses. Of course, you have to find these people first, and you're playing beat the clock before they sell it to someone else. Or worse, sell it back to the bookstore who will mark it up. Overall buying textbooks is a hassle and a big hit to your piggy bank, but we usually all find a way through it and live goes on.
So now you're in class, you have the book, and you're listening to the professor lecture on about whatever class you're in. The class ends with a few homework problems out of the book and reading the next chapter.
Well, I guess if you learn well out of a text book, reading it is fine, but many people tend not to find them all that helpful. Besides, if your professor is decent, he'll be teaching you most of it in class anyway, so there's no need to read the book. Now, your textbook is just a few homework problems that you do.
The result is we're spending hundreds of dollars on books we rarely use.
I remember in high school, we had a class set of books that we used temporarily and then gave back for the next class, so everyone didn't have to buy these books.
What happened to that system?
I mean we're college kids so I think we could handle getting a book at the beginning and returning it at the end. Maybe we give $10 for renting it for the semester or if you don't return the book (or pay for a new one) you don't take the final. I think saving a few hundred a year would be enough incentive to keep the books in decent shape for a semester.
We are being forced to spend hundreds of dollars on books that we hardly use for a semester and then sell back for a fraction of the cost so the stores can make great profits. Can't we think of a better system?
Then there's my favorite activity, buying textbooks. Now if you have lots of money or maybe your parents still help out, buying books is easy. You go to the bookstore, head down the stairs, and before you lay shelves and shelves of books for every class. You just go and grab the book you want, pay for them, and leave.
Life is beautiful.
For the rest of us who can't afford to drop $500 on books or want to try to use some of their Christmas money for something they actually want, we seek other options.
Used books are still too expensive, especially considering that the store bought that book for only $20 and are making around $60 to $80 of pure profit when they sell it to you at a "bargain" of around $100.
Buying online is usually a better option for penny-pinchers, but still you have to pay for shipping and wait a week or two for them to get here, all while hoping the book you get is the book you actually ordered and in decent condition.
I've found the best option is to buy them off people from last year, cutting out the middle man, and saving you the most money, while also allowing the seller to recoup more of his losses. Of course, you have to find these people first, and you're playing beat the clock before they sell it to someone else. Or worse, sell it back to the bookstore who will mark it up. Overall buying textbooks is a hassle and a big hit to your piggy bank, but we usually all find a way through it and live goes on.
So now you're in class, you have the book, and you're listening to the professor lecture on about whatever class you're in. The class ends with a few homework problems out of the book and reading the next chapter.
Well, I guess if you learn well out of a text book, reading it is fine, but many people tend not to find them all that helpful. Besides, if your professor is decent, he'll be teaching you most of it in class anyway, so there's no need to read the book. Now, your textbook is just a few homework problems that you do.
The result is we're spending hundreds of dollars on books we rarely use.
I remember in high school, we had a class set of books that we used temporarily and then gave back for the next class, so everyone didn't have to buy these books.
What happened to that system?
I mean we're college kids so I think we could handle getting a book at the beginning and returning it at the end. Maybe we give $10 for renting it for the semester or if you don't return the book (or pay for a new one) you don't take the final. I think saving a few hundred a year would be enough incentive to keep the books in decent shape for a semester.
We are being forced to spend hundreds of dollars on books that we hardly use for a semester and then sell back for a fraction of the cost so the stores can make great profits. Can't we think of a better system?
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