College Textbook rant...

[mathey]

this is just me venting about college textbooks and their cost...

My son is in his second year at the local community college. He is taking 4 classes this term (Spring 07) including Art, Math, Geography, and Criminology. The cost for his "required" textbooks for these 4 classes totaled $464.00 as new (used are hard to find, and not all that much cheaper). We did a lot of searching on Ebay and such, and were able to knock a few dollars off here and there.

Now heres the clincher...

1. the geography teacher said that one of the books (the most expensive one) will "only be used for one or two articles" in the book. (couldn't she xerox those pages?)

2. the art teacher said to cut the color samples he had into strips (bought 6x9 since they were required) cut off strip 1x6, rest won't be used, could have bought the smaller color chips for less than half the price.

3. math teacher also said textbook wouldn't be used much.

What kind of racket is this? Do the schools or teachers get money from the publishers to require these texts? not to mention the "new version" syndrome that seems to change every semester.

The school bookstore also advertises how much money you'll get back when you return them...but at most they pay half of what you payed orginally, and that's if its in a "never been used" condition...and hopefully the class didn't switch to a newer edition (how much can change in that few months between editions?)

sheesh...

 

[Nat]

When my son was in col. 2 of his proffesors required him to buy a book they had written. Talk about conflict of interest.
My biggest rant was one of his proffesors could barely speak english, I thought he was exagerating till I heard her speak, and I couldn't understand a word she said, and it was a required coarse.
later, Nat

 

[frank_f15]

MATHEY; was the same 20 yeas ago when my three were in college, a lot of times you could not even use a book from the prvious year as a diffenent professor required a different book. really use to tick me off, but not squat you could do about it, just bite the bullet and open your wallet

 

[mjarrels]

Visit MHP... one of the best stocks to own.

mark

 

[mikim]

things haven't changed a bit ... it was the exact same story 40 yrs ago when I went.

 

[BB_TX]

Yep, it is a racket. It was the same oh so many years ago when I was in college. The books are written by professors and professors get to chose which book they require. Rarely was a book used more than 2-3 yrs. A guaranteed source of income for the authors.

 

[RobS]

Same for me some 25 years ago (just celebrated 25 years with the company I work for, even though they changed names three times since). Remember though, it's not a painful expense, it's an investment. Sometime in the future, you and your son may look back on a successful career without a thought to the book costs. I kept many of my core textbooks from college. Haven't looked at them since, but they are something of a "monument" to my achievements back then.

Oh, and yes, it is a racket. But an investment none-the-less.

 

[HappyCPE]

We used to buy a copy, then reproduce it on the library photocopy machine. Even at 10 cents a sheet we came out ahead. Now, you could probably scan it as an e-book!

 

[BobRip]

Yes and the professors will take their existing book, change the order of the chapters, call it a new book and now sell a lot more copies. During the class if you have the old book, it will not help since they reference page numbers for assignements and don't cover the new chapters in order (heck the new order does not make sense). Universities have the biggest conflict of interest schemes I have seen. The head of the department may create a new class just to sell his book and eliminate a needed class, damaging the students career. Pathetic. I experienced both of these examples first hand. Somebody should tell this to a reporter. It would make a really good story. I wonder why we have not seen such a story if everbody here has experienced it.

 

[DUMBDOG]

My daughter is in her last semester of college, she did not buy one book this semester, after three and one half years, she learned the system. They do not work out of the books that much. When she might need something that is in the book, she will borrow the book.