<Rant>

[Steakpirate]

So I just spent $550 on textbooks. (For this semester) And that was after hours of finding out what was cheaper/better to buy through Half.com, and what had to be bought through the school.

 

It's really upsetting, because the book market is so fraudulent, and we really have to use whatever book they tell us to. You COULD go out and buy a different book, sure, and try and learn the same stuff, maybe even use a free medium on the interwebs. But that's only good until someone assigns you homework.

 

If you really want to stick it to the man, you can use a book from the library, but it's a lot of work.

 

Artificially high prices, releasing prints each year, as if some startling new information has been discovered. And on top of it all, we have to lug them around, rather than carry them all on a nice little ebook reader.

 

Chances are I won't be able to sell half of them back, because a newer edition will be out.

 

 

Ahh, to be young and in debt.

[codemer]

Ahh, to be young and in debt.

 

Ah, the good old days. The solution for me was to graduate.

 

IF

[Steve E]

So I just spent $550 on textbooks...

Ahh, to be young and in debt.

T'was ever thus.

 

The booksellers justify the price of school texts by claiming low sales volumes make printing such texts in the first place unprofitable unless they really gouge their customers (of course they never use the word "gouge"). As Steakpirate points out, a cheap e-book version could solve that problem (and others). But the problem isn't really the publishers: it's the professors. If they've written a book, they assign it. It's how a lot of professors get their books published in the first place. It's part of the deal. Beyond that, they assign books written by their friends in anticipation of a little tit-for-tat. The net result is a lot of very bad textbooks in circulation.

 

In the early '90s there was a short-lived rebellion in the New York State University system. The student's demanded that the universities assign a single "best" text for each class and then buy the books at a negotiated bulk rate. The teachers balked and the idea died. (Professors have to eat too, it seems.)

 

With the Internet becoming more and more a part of classroom learning I believe that it is only a matter of time before some enterprising Website entrepreneur licenses required texts and puts them all online, accessible for a small fee. (No more long lines at the bookstore.) Better yet, university libraries should do it for free (to their students).

 

Or, as Isaac suggests, you could graduate as fast as humanly possible.

Rant away SP.

- Thoth.

[emoKid]

I feel your pain... sortof... My parents gladly pay for our books. It's really frusterating trying to find the best price. I check amazon, half.com, and a couple of others.

 

My school is really bad at providing information about the books as well. We get the last name of the author, edition, and the short-title of the book. The other information they provide might be wrong, like the publishing year and publisher. I wish they'd provide an ISBN, but they don't so sometimes we buy it from the school and pay loads more instead of taking the risk of buying the wrong book. Sometimes the teacher will e-mail the ISBN for the students to buy the book elsewhere, but some of the teachers sold their soul to the school and tell the students to buy it from the school if they don't want to risk purchasing the wrong book from elsewhere.

 

Some of our textbooks are available on PDF, but that costs practically the same amount as the textbook. I like having the textbook for when I'm in my dorm, but I wouldn't mind having a copy on my laptop or something for toting around to class (although some teachers won't allow students to use their laptops in class and I know a kid who bought the PDF version but had to borrow/buy a copy for the classroom because the teacher wouldn't let him use the laptop and wouldn't mention what parts of the book we would look at in class so he couldn't print them out).

[codemer]

The booksellers justify the price of school texts by claiming low sales volumes make printing such texts in the first place unprofitable unless they really gouge their customers (of course they never use the word "gouge").

 

It's not just the publishers. My university's book store regularly put a white sticker over the book's ISBN and price label that had a large mark up. You could still make out the original price under the sticker some times. Sticker price: $80. Original price: $64.99. When the original price exceeded $100, they didn't do this as much.

 

And don't get me started on the crap they pulled when the prof teaching a class changed at the last second and you have to return a book to get the "correct" book. "These corners are bent. We can't accept this return. We can only buy it back at the used book price of 1/100 what you paid and then resell it for a 5% discount."

 

But they at least were very helpful in our accumulation of debt. Every book was stuffed with credit card offers. To this day, they still send me offers for a university branded credit card. Way to teach fiscal responsibility guys.

 

IF

[Steve E]

My favorite college credit card scam is the one they still use in Med school. "You don't have to pay anything for six years!" It's true, you don't. But you're still accumulating interest on your debt during that time, with an upward adjustment for the deferred payment.

 

There aught to be a law.

-Thoth.

 

(See what you started SP?)

[marguerite]

So I just spent $550 on textbooks. (For this semester) And that was after hours of finding out what was cheaper/better to buy through Half.com, and what had to be bought through the school.

 

It's really upsetting, because the book market is so fraudulent, and we really have to use whatever book they tell us to. You COULD go out and buy a different book, sure, and try and learn the same stuff, maybe even use a free medium on the interwebs. But that's only good until someone assigns you homework.

 

If you really want to stick it to the man, you can use a book from the library, but it's a lot of work.

 

Artificially high prices, releasing prints each year, as if some startling new information has been discovered. And on top of it all, we have to lug them around, rather than carry them all on a nice little ebook reader.

 

Chances are I won't be able to sell half of them back, because a newer edition will be out.

 

 

Ahh, to be young and in debt.

In hope and sympathy, I refer you to this article from today's New York Times: Textbook Rentals

 

It's true: professors do have to eat, and the academic publishing market is such that many could not get published without course adoptions (and if they don't get published, they lose their jobs, no matter how well they teach). But students and parents have to eat, too! Surely, somewhere, someday, a happy medium can someday be found. (And yes, Thoth, I do want the perfect e-Reader, too!)

M

[btjeppesen]

As a fellow university student, I can sympathize. I am currently in the middle of Summer Session 2, in which I'm taking two courses. For those two course, there was just under $600 in books assigned. In fact, there is one book which is $200 by itself. There is a trick to learn here though. In most classes I've taken, I've consulted the professor at the start of the course to ask if a previous edition would work. Usually, textbook publishers change about four words and call that the new edition. It's rare that any substantial changes or additions are made. I've yet to have an instructor who didn't permit me to get the older editions. So, how much of a difference does this make? Well, that $600 worth of books I mentioned... I paid a grand total of $52.55. That is a huge discounted. And I've compared those books with the correct editions and haven't found a single change yet. That $200 book... I got the previous edition for $10. This is all through the Amazon Marketplace.

 

So, from now on, make sure it is okay with the instructor, then purchase an older version. Hope this helps.

 

Brian

[Steakpirate]

With the Internet becoming more and more a part of classroom learning I believe that it is only a matter of time before some enterprising Website entrepreneur licenses required texts and puts them all online, accessible for a small fee. (No more long lines at the bookstore.) Better yet, university libraries should do it for free (to their students).

 

The problem is that it's not a small fee, it's half the price of the book, and even then you're only generally subscribing to the content, and furthermore, you can only use it with their proprietary software. (And therefore can't redistribute it or put it on an e-reader.

 

I've yet to have an instructor who didn't permit me to get the older editions. So, how much of a difference does this make? Well, that $600 worth of books I mentioned... I paid a grand total of $52.55. That is a huge discounted. And I've compared those books with the correct editions and haven't found a single change yet. That $200 book... I got the previous edition for $10. This is all through the Amazon Marketplace.

 

That's a great point, I think I'll try that next semester. I sort of get nervous about not being prepared If I don't have the books though.

[btjeppesen]

The problem is that it's not a small fee, it's half the price of the book, and even then you're only generally subscribing to the content, and furthermore, you can only use it with their proprietary software. (And therefore can't redistribute it or put it on an e-reader.

 

 

 

That's a great point, I think I'll try that next semester. I sort of get nervous about not being prepared If I don't have the books though.

 

Don't be. Teachers assume the students won't have their books for the first week. Most Amazon Marketplace sellers will do expedited shipping, so you can have the book by the end of the first week. That way, you just have to go to the library to look at the reserved copies, or borrow and make copies from one of the students who bought the new addition, for the first week, and you save a ton of money.

 

And to be honest, I've found that I barely need to read the books in most classes anyway. University professor's generally base all test questions off of their lectures. I've made it through most of my GE courses on the lectures alone. And I've only had two B's, with the rest being A's. This isn't to brag. In fact, I'm more disappointed in the university system for dumbing the classes down so much. And this is California, the UC system, which is one of the tops in the nation. I suppose education as a whole has gone down the poop chute. (I love that expression)

 

Brian

[Steve E]

The problem is that it's not a small fee, it's half the price of the book, and even then you're only generally subscribing to the content, and furthermore, you can only use it with their proprietary software. (And therefore can't redistribute it or put it on an e-reader.

People said the same things about books online, and it was true at first. But the fees came down. The proprietary software went (more or less) public and things started to conform to standards (sort of). Things do get better eventually. Maybe your kids will see light at the end of the textbook tunnel.

 

Just keep complaining. (Irritation is a great motivator.)

- Thoth.