This isn't Political- it's about education.

[DarkArtist81]

I agree with you guys, right now I am going to school and I purchase about $375-500 in books each semester. It's insane.

And if you don't sell your book immediately upon semester's end, they will change editions on you and you can't even sell them back. I can't understand why any of those books are over a hundred bucks.

I hope something changes there, it's just taking advantage of students IMO.

 

[pixletwin]

Yup. School books are the biggest ripoff in higher education.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

It is a racket, and it's been going on a very long time. It was going on back when I was a student in the early seventies. And now that students use the internet, there's no reason why a university couldn't mandate that books edited by a faculty member be available to registered students through the university online library.

Note I said "edited," not written, because in my experience that's what we were forced to buy -- the professor's selection of other authors' published works. There are royalty issues with the original works that affect pricing whatever way the publishing is done. But the internet ought to provide a key to some relief.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Instead of letting the teachers make money they should just tax us and let the funds float around and get wasted by school boards, administration costs and managment like they always do with education funds.

 

[EVILFACE]

He just needs to spread the books.

 

[customizerwannabe]

I agree 100% on most policies in that article. Books are an absolute scam. I just hope he keeps his nose out of collegiate affirmative action. Let the states and universities decide for themselves.

I avoided the book scam through nursing school by using the current textbooks at the university library and buying very few.

 

[The Josh]

Well, I'm going to melt the board down and say that..... I agree. It is a racket that universities can charge so much for books. Especially the pittance you get for them when you try to resell them.

The whole textbook thing is a total joke. Its the biggest scam in higher education IMO.

 

[galactiboy]

How do you get around it? Don't buy the books... in my undergraduate and graduate work I rarely used the damn things. I still almost always bought them (being a sucker) but always stayed away from study guides and a lot of that crap.

But most classes, even doctoral level ones the books were barely cracked. I like reading and have good comprehension, but I found if I just attend classes and paid attention I would do fine.

 

[carbo-fation]

I always bought older edition books for all of my subjects. I never ever purchased a text book that was over $40. There was no way I'd spend $100+ on text book that would be replaced by another version the following year.

 

[galactiboy]

Also there are some sites that you can buy used books from on the cheap, usually from other students who by selling on-line get a bit more than reselling at the campus bookstore.

I remember one time I bought a brand new book that was like $125 and I was offered $4 on trade-in

 

[LChinoz]

WOW I love this piece. The cost of school books are a huge issue, and I have hope we can see something good come from this.

 

[El Roranous]

I used to buy my text books on Half.com and Amazon. I also used to sell them on those sites as well. It really did save a lot of money.

 

[LChinoz]

I used to buy my text books on Half.com and Amazon. I also used to sell them on those sites as well. It really did save a lot of money.

<-eBay, worked out well actually. Pretty good prices.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Books are a fraction of the cost of college. I don't see the jist of labeling it as the biggest scam in higher education when $500 out of $10,000 is 5%. On campus living and tuition are the bigger jokes.

 

[plasmid303]

Thanks for the article, Roranous, this is extremely relevant to me. I'm attending university right now and while text books aren't the big hitters, financially (that goes to tuition), every penny counts.

I like Obama's views on the price of higher education, but unfortunately I don't expect or see any chances of change in that regard any time soon, and I graduate in a semester.

 

[LChinoz]

Books are a fraction of the cost of college. I don't see the jist of labeling it as the biggest scam in higher education when $500 out of $10,000 is 5%. On campus living and tuition are the bigger jokes.

Well, think about what you are paying for. Sure on campus living is expensive, but you are paying for a safe place to live during school. If you were to spend, say $700 every semester on books, for 4 years, that is $700 4x a year for 4 years. Sure in the scheme of things it is not the most hefty price you will pay for, but these are books. How here is what is important:

How much would you get back if you sold them to the school? If you are lucky, 25% of the original cost. The school can then sell that book used for 50% or more of the price they paid you for it. It is not so much the amount of money, it is the way the educational system consistently short changes students, who are most likely struggling in the first place. On top of that, a lot of books have a usage life of only 1 year, after which another edition would come out. This makes selling certain books back via the school impossible for a good chunk of students. It is a shame, IMO, that students need to go to outside sources to buy and sell books at reasonable prices. This is my problem with it. But again, schools have their own policies, and especially if you are going to a private institution, you simply must deal with their rules.

I would personally like to see reform in the way of a library type system where student's borrowed books, but this again goes back to the politics of book publishers, who need to make money themselves.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I still own most of the books I've bought for college. Some are fun resources, some are intriguing resources and some are shelf anchors.

But overall, when I think of the overpriced dorm vs the overpriced book, I think the book is the lesser of the 2 evils.

 

[LChinoz]

I still own most of the books I've bought for college. Some are fun resources, some are intriguing resources and some are shelf anchors.

But overall, when I think of the overpriced dorm vs the overpriced book, I think the book is the lesser of the 2 evils.

Me too, but I still have to find out what to do with "The Essentials of Microsoft Office" and "Interpersonal Communication." Gotta love gen-ed courses

 

[DannieDarKo]

Yeah that's why I make a big part of my living stealing books the moment students put their bags down to grab a coffee from the cafeteria. Its soooooooooooo easy and quick money.

Especially the older students that prolly have 6 kids at home. And their faces..... That "WTF!" look when they come back to an empty table and scan the endless field of students flirting, laughing, dozing, studying.....

I finally have enough to get that Cinemaquette Predator from Alteregocomics.

 

[creecher]

Education is politics and big business. It doesn't make scamming right, just legal, and we should all be educated enough to know what a loop hole legalities are.

It's a system, that, as with all systems, tends to break down over time and show it's weaknesses. People will always make use of such opportunities. Greed being the incentive. It's never news when something like this is brought under the spotlight. As has been said, it's been going on for years.

If someone were enterprising enough they could put these publications on line and give students access at a nominal price. Of course, if such an enterprise became popular, then it might change the profitability of the current scam, overall, and lead to the demise of enterprise itself.

As usual, big business and politics go hand in hand and direct their evils toward the, practically helpless, individual. You'd think educated people would be able to do something about righting the wrongs, but they don't teach people how.

It's an irony, reflective of the 'democracies' we live in. The system is wrong. Long live the system.