The Negative Impact Of High Cost Of Books On Students

The cost of going to college is one of the first things that people think about when applying to their favorite college. If this price is too high or unaffordable to a person, many people choose to just ignore education and find a normal job that they will most likely not enjoy. Excessive prices for the college tuition can also stay with the student throughout a long period of their life. The debt that they will have ultimately change their way of living and cause them to not live their life fully.

For most people going off to college will place them in large amounts of debt. That is if they are unfortunate in receiving some type of scholarship. College is expensive because students have to pay tuition, housing, and for their books. One way colleges could cut down cost for students is to make textbooks free. Textbooks should be free for college students because they are expensive, they are becoming useless, and producing them is bad for the environment.

One of the main reasons why college textbooks are so expensive is because they are overpriced. The publishers set the prices. The bookstore has no control. The publishers of the textbooks are in the habit of bringing new editions quite frequently. Most students hesitate to buy old editions fearing that they will miss out on

Attention-getter: How much money have you spent just this year alone on college? Hold on now, did you include all the fees? Living expenses? Your meal plan? Obvioulsy the answer is going to be in the upwards of thousands of dollars. Depressing, I know! College should be a time where you are truly discovering who you are and what you want to do with your life. It shouldn’t be about how you’re slowly but surely giving your life away to student loans. Oh yes, student loans, the mortal enemy of any college student. The college tuition alone is already high enough to put you in debt with student loans for a majority of your life. There are many things that factor into the price of a college education, some reasonable, others however, are a different story. Today, I want to talk to you about the scam that is going on concerning the price of college textbooks. An interesting statistic by The Huffington Post tells us that the cost of college textbooks has increased 253% faster than the cost of college tuition over the decade. How come college textbooks are so expensive? And what can we do to stop this? Well let’s get into it shall we.

An increasing cost in tuition prevents some students from pursuing a higher education. Such high college tuitions are unfair to the lower and middle classes who may want to receive a higher education. Preventing the financially unstable from receiving a higher education weakens the development of society in the United States. You should not have to be rich to receive a respectable education.

According to MyBudget360, college tuition has skyrocketed over four hundred percent since 1984. Now, the average tuition rate for private universities in America is over $31,000 and over $9,000 for public universities. Not only that, but thirty-seven million Americans have outstanding student debt and thirty-seven percent of college students look for a job requiring no higher than a high school diploma AFTER they graduate. Tuition has tripled, graduates have outstanding student debt, and in addition to that, graduates look for menial jobs where even a high school diploma is not necessary. College expenses definitely adversely affect students and graduates in the long run.

The number one stress causer of most students is the cost of books. Books can range anywhere from sixty dollars up to around three hundred. In a survey it is shown that students pay up to $1,200 a year just on books! On books. Nothing more. Many teachers pick their books, not the school. Why do the teachers pick some of the most expensive when there are other books with the same information that cost almost half the price? Due to this, many resort to renting books but on some websites it cost just as much as the new price. Though financial aid is an option to help with this overpriced ordeal, it doesn’t always cover

According to an article titled (“College textbook costs more outrageous than ever” from today.com by Herb Weisbaum), the College Board “estimates that the average student in this country now spends around $1,200 a year on books and supplies. A single book can cost as much as $200”.

For decades, the options of renting apartments, cars, and movies. Renting allows the person in mind to enjoy goods while they need them and return them when they are no longer useful. However, can renting textbooks actually be worth it for students?

“Marketing Professors’ Perspectives on the Cost of College Textbooks: A Pilot Study” is a paper by Lawrence S. Silver, Robert E. Stevens of Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Kenneth E. Clow of University of Louisiana. It was published in the Journal of Education for Business Volume 87. The first half of the paper starts off by explaining why the cost of textbooks is an issue. They go on to explain different competitors’ textbook have in the marketplace today and how publishers are trying to appeal new customers through professors. The second half of the paper focuses on a study that was done by surveying random marketing professors in the United States. The survey contained questions asking about the pricing of textbooks and how they

With college textbooks on the rise, there is no wonder that college students are skipping out on buying books for classes or skipping certain classes altogether. The cost of college books has increased by three times the rate of inflation, about 1,041 percent. Colleges need to find a solution to textbook prices before it gets even more out of hand.

The tuition pays for the teachers, buildings and the school administration. Since college is more in demand it requires more teachers and buildings therefore college prices have increased 7% a year for decades. Tuition does not pay for dorm rooms, cafeteria meal plans and the cost of books which are very pricey and sometime double the cost of going to college. Many students try to find smart ways to avoid meal plans to save money. “In both good and bad economic times, institutions of higher education have continued to disproportionately increase prices for students and families. When times are tough, institutions increase tuition; and when times are good, institutions increase tuition as well.” (McKeon, Howard. “The college cost crisis.” Sov.vt.edu ) A college education has long been viewed as a ticket to prosperity, the gateway to the “American dream”. Today, higher education is playing a more vital role than ever in shaping our nation's

Ask any college student to state one of their largest expenses and it would be safe to bet the response would be “Textbook prices!” The cost of purchasing required materials for courses has reached numbers high enough to cause many students to take out second loans. Information released this year by the American Enterprise Institute shows that “College textbook prices have increased faster than tuition, health care costs and housing prices, all of which have risen faster than inflation” (Kingkade, 2013). This information equates to an 812% increase in the cost of college textbooks over what they were just over thirty years ago (Kingkade, 2013). The figure here shows an unusually large increase that has far outpaced that of average

Additional-ly, they have to transition around their needs, which may lead to new jobs or auxiliary loans. All of these factors hamper students, and even direct them to drop the course. The high priced text-books benefit book-stores, but not the consumers, who heavily rely on certain books to pass rig-orous courses. However, there are alternatives available the students can rely on, such as online textbooks or used textbooks. The best alternative is to buy the book available on Chegg, new or used at a reasonable price. The decisions are now left on students to either find a way to pay for the books, use an alternative, or abandon the class. Textbook prices truly affect students; they are not able to use the book if they are not able to obtain the

A full time college student takes twelve or more hours in one semester. Most full time college students take four or five classes in one semester. With each class requiring at least one textbook sometimes multiple, students are faced with making difficult financial decisions in order to acquire the textbooks. While working has helped to pay for some of the books it can be difficult to purchase books on a low-income salary. Some students find it easier to wait to order books to ensure that they are a necessity, while others decide to cut out other necessities in their life in order to guarantee that they can afford the books every semester. While deciding if textbooks are more important than other financial needs, it can sometimes impact your grade in the