Cents and senseless pricing
By: Michael Harmon
Issue date: 9/1/09 Section: Opinion
School's back in session, and college students around the nation are adjusting from the carefree days of summer vacation, and gradually getting back into the daily grind of classes. For returning students, this is by now a well established routine; for the freshman that are just beginning their university education, a start to a new and exciting adventure. But all, be they fresh out of high school or on their way out of college, are struggling to carry the weight of overpriced textbook costs.
It's certainly no secret that a fair portion of any college student's budget goes straight into the well-padded pockets of textbook publishers. Rarely, however, is the question of exactly why these basic necessities of higher education are so exorbitantly priced, raised.
Let's start with general education courses. Every student is required to take these classes, in order to round out their university experience. But is it necessary for, say, an anthropology major, to be forced to purchases a new edition of an algebra text? How much has really changed in algebra in the last hundred years, much less in the 12 weeks that have passed since last semester? Yet, professors willingly force students to purchase the latest edition of these textbooks, ignoring the incredible financial strain placed on students. Each year, slight revisions are made in nearly every textbook, questions and chapters rearranged, wrapped in a shiny new book cover, resulting in a newer, 'updated' edition complete with a triple digit price tag.
Certainly some fields of study require frequent updates. For example, it would be na've to assume that nothing significant has changed in history in the last year. But to force students to fork out 100 dollars, sometimes more, per book for information that they will likely never revisit after passing the class seems like a cruel and unusual punishment, indeed.
Of course, Barnes and Noble, who operates the campus bookstore at Eastern New Mexico University, isn't complaining. Why should they? After all, it's extremely profitable to rip students off. Anyone who's returned their book at the end of a semester to receive less than half of the original price knows just how much it pains large corporations to overcharge students.
It's certainly no secret that a fair portion of any college student's budget goes straight into the well-padded pockets of textbook publishers. Rarely, however, is the question of exactly why these basic necessities of higher education are so exorbitantly priced, raised.
Let's start with general education courses. Every student is required to take these classes, in order to round out their university experience. But is it necessary for, say, an anthropology major, to be forced to purchases a new edition of an algebra text? How much has really changed in algebra in the last hundred years, much less in the 12 weeks that have passed since last semester? Yet, professors willingly force students to purchase the latest edition of these textbooks, ignoring the incredible financial strain placed on students. Each year, slight revisions are made in nearly every textbook, questions and chapters rearranged, wrapped in a shiny new book cover, resulting in a newer, 'updated' edition complete with a triple digit price tag.
Certainly some fields of study require frequent updates. For example, it would be na've to assume that nothing significant has changed in history in the last year. But to force students to fork out 100 dollars, sometimes more, per book for information that they will likely never revisit after passing the class seems like a cruel and unusual punishment, indeed.
Of course, Barnes and Noble, who operates the campus bookstore at Eastern New Mexico University, isn't complaining. Why should they? After all, it's extremely profitable to rip students off. Anyone who's returned their book at the end of a semester to receive less than half of the original price knows just how much it pains large corporations to overcharge students.