Textbooks
Today, I was going to talk about Revlon Lash Potion Mascara.
But I’m not. (Come back tomorrow for that gem, probably.) Because I’m angry,
and when I’m angry, we have to talk about that.
University textbooks.
I’m already snorting in frustration.
University textbooks cost a fortune and a half. There is no
reason why I should have to sell a kidney to get a book for my physics course.
You’ll notice when I listed off the classes I’m taking this year, physics wasn’t
there. I was planning on taking it, but dropped it because (among other things)
the book cost $250. What. The. Hell.
Professors want their students to do well, if for no other
reason than it makes them look good. Logically, this would mean that they would
want to use the best textbook possible. But I’m sure that the more expensive a
book is, the less likely it is that I, or other students, will think to buy it.
It’s crap. It’s just crap. If I purchased at the campus
bookstore every single book that my profs wanted me to have, I would spend
$1200 this semester. Just this semester. Next semester would be an entirely
different story.
My roommate bought two textbooks yesterday for $273 total.
One was a paperback, the other a hardcover, neither was what I would call a
thick book (for a textbook). Maybe 300 pages, max.
The fact is that your prof often doesn’t give you a lot of
choice in whether or not you buy a book. I am taking a class where 25% of my
mark comes from take-home quizzes straight out of the textbook. T makes me feel
like I am buying my grade, because I am. The difference between an A+ and a B-
is that textbook.
So, I mentioned that my books would cost $1200 if I bought
them all. I think part of that is because the campus bookstore is trying to
screw us all over. Everything there is immensely overpriced but incredibly
convenient. Their book buyback program is a joke. At the end of the semester,
you can sell your books back to them for part of the price. They once offered
me $8.45 on a $200 calculus book. Yeah. If I do the logical thing and purchase
my books off of Amazon, it becomes more like $700. Still a lot, but
considerably less.
This year, I’m doing okay in terms of textbook costs. Using
a combination of the tips I listed below (plus some free hand me downs), this
semester will probably run me about $200 in books, many of which I will not be
able to sell back. I have decided that’s reasonable, but I’m still upset with the
idea of how much they cost.
I’ve read more than a couple articles on the subject, and
they all say roughly the same thing: the reason for the cost hike is book
resellers. Every time I buy a book from one of my classmates, the publisher isn’t
getting my money, so they have to keep the price high for that first time
someone buys it because that person is really buying for me as well as
themselves. This makes that student want to sell it even re, and it’s a vicious
cycle.
So what is a student to do?
Buy those books off of Amazon unless you absolutely must get
them from your bookstore. (There is a special place in hell for the professor
who requires the book they wrote to be used.)
Buy used from other students who bought their books for way
too much money. Help each other out. First years often don’t think to buy books
used and are cheated out of hundreds of dollars for it.
Trade. This usually only works in upper years, but you can
trade textbooks of roughly the same worth with someone else in your program. I’ve
done this a couple times and have always been happy with it.
Try using an older addition. Your prof can tell you if it
really isn’t going to work (unless they’re a jerk). The International Edition
is perfectly acceptable to use, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Best of luck!