Semesters are rolling by. We are all jumping with joy that we’re making it through college. Or are we? Allow me to rephrase. One more semester begins with its tales of woe: hard labor yielding to the inevitable emptying of millions of students bank accounts. As students finalize their course schedules they begin the anxious process of book buying. Yes, even before the book buying begins students dread the future activities of check writing, credit card swiping, and handing over of their hard earned cash to their university bookstores. It is with great animosity that we approach this fortunate occasion. Face it: spending money on course books practically amounts to paying for another UMB class. Just how much do students spend on books? According to the University of Connecticut, the averages range anywhere from $450-$500 a semester.
“Book prices are so outrageous it depresses me,” grumbled a disgruntled UMB student standing in the bookstore line.
Right here at our own bookstore, managed by efollett.com, prices reflect the soaring costs that have students all over the country complaining. If you’re a freshman taking Calculus 140, your required textbook is $124.00-no used copies are available. If you are also taking Spanish 101, Caminos will cost you $128.00-again, no used texts are available.
And if you’re planning to be a biology, nursing, or fitness major taking Biology 208, Human Anatomy & Physiology costs $147.50. If you’re lucky to find a used copy, you will pay $110.75. But don’t forget that students taking Bio 208 will have to buy the handy dandy Human Anatomy & Physiology Lab Manual to supplement the textbook costing a whopping $95.50, or $71.75 used. In short, this class can cost students a steep total of $243.00. The fortuitous student finding used copies of each book will pay $182.50 for Bio 208, hardly a consolation. Freshmen are required to take an English 101 seminar. An example text, Ways of Reading, sells at the bookstore for $50.00. The total cost of this freshman student’s expenses this semester: $545.00. Now there’s a price that would have any student up in arms.So what do students do to cope with the high cost of textbooks besides curb their social lives due to lack of funding? Some will moan about it until midterms make them forget their grief, others search for solutions.Students at the start of the semester often post fliers advertising used books. Fliers are often posted outside of classrooms where the wanted books will be used.
An even better solution is the internet. On websites like Amazon.com or Half.com, these same books sell for half the price, sometimes even less. A previous edition of Calculus: Simple Variable was found on the internet selling for $24.95, Caminos for $35.99, Human Anatomy & Physiology for $30.00 and the lab manual for $5.99, and finally, a copy of Ways of Reading in very good condition is selling for $0.75. If the same freshman bought his or her books off the Internet, their total expenses on textbooks for the semester would be $97.68-less than 20% of what they would spend at the college bookstore.I just thought you should know.