Chances are you have seen the outrageous cost of going to college. And the basic price of tuition is not the only thing that causes us to cringe when handing over a check. Textbooks have become increasingly and ridiculously high. The average amount of money that each student will spend on textbooks each year is around $900. I’m no expert, but that seems a like a bit too much. Surely there is some way to lower the cost of printing and distributing these books so that it is not such a financial hassle to buy these supplies.
The worst part about the price of textbooks is the fact that the books themselves hardly ever get used! Be honest, how many times do the textbooks a student buys ever get used, or even opened? Some of the books I bought this year were opened once, maybe twice. Most students just turn to what they know and love, the Internet. Instead of searching through pages and pages of books, students can just get on the Internet and find what they are looking for in a matter of seconds. So what is the point in buying these expensive books if nobody uses them?
Next year, when it comes time to buy books and supplies again, the best idea would be to wait for a couple of weeks before buying books. Gauge whether or not the textbook will be required or useful. If it won’t be helpful, then don’t waste your money. Another helpful option is to borrow a friend’s book or share one and each pay for half of the book. These are just a few ideas of how to save some cash and not waste any money.
The cost of textbooks are way too high and although most schools offer its students cash for selling their books back it is hardly worth it. I had to buy a philosophy book this semester and never opened the book once. I brought the textbook back today, and the bookstore would not accept it because it was an old edition. Other classes required books that the bookstore would only buy back for $2.50. The cost of going to school here is so high. Teachers should not require textbooks unless it is going to be a worthy investment. Our parents do not need to be throwing money away on books that are never used. I think that you make a valid point when you suggest that people should wait a few weeks into the semester before buying textbooks. Therefore we can try to avoid buying textbooks we will never use.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I've bought many textbooks that I haven't needed to use, for example, I paid close to $200 for a music theory textbook and have only used 30 pages out of the 600 during the entire semester. I have come across a few professors that feel the same, and recommend that students buy their textbooks online or second hand to save a bit of money, but the fact that I won't be able to reuse any of my textbooks for other classes during my studies makes me think that it's a bad investment.
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