The Negative Impact Of High Cost Of Books On Students

Ethan Senack, a higher education associate at U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), wrote in his article titled, “Fixing The Broken Textbook Market: How Students Respond To High Textbook Cost And Demand Alternatives.” Whereas, he suggest that the problems associated with high pricing on textbooks, has nothing to do with the student. However, he feels that the students would be the most effective in seeking lower prices for textbooks. He gave several examples of colleges that are overcoming this barrier. One successful example he used was Maryland Open-Source Textbook (MOST). The university staff, professors and students worked together to generate ideas to reduce the cost of textbooks, using the use of open textbooks (16).

The cost of college books has tripled in the last 10 years, costing an average of $200 dollars (NIA). College 's will publish their own books, require students to buy them, then update or revise them every year to make the book obsolete causing students to have to by new one 's every year and making the resale of them, nonexistent! College 's will work with publishers and recieve kick backs for using books they publish. Adminstation for college also feel the advantage of higher tuition rates. The president of Yale salary has tripled from $591,709 in 2000, to 1.63 million in 2009.(5) With the average cost of graduating at a 4 year college at $27,293 a year, it is easy to see who is truly profitting from an attending and/or graduated student. Colleges are captializing of students in a poor economy and once out of college, their is no guarentee employment will be waiting.

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?

Students are struggling to pay for these expensive books and it is causing some of them to not be able to attend college. Most people already know that going to a higher level of school or college is important, it provides many opportunities and advantages. Attending a college will not only help people better themselves but it will help the person going to school in the long run. College helps with getting a future career, it helps with furthering a student's education, and it also teaches students valuable life lessons. When a student is trying to better themselves by going to school, they should not have to pay over $500 for textbooks every semester when they are already paying thousands of dollars on tuition.

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.

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”.

money to pay for their education. Colleges are very expensive and need to start looking at it on the student perspective. Students who are graduating from high-school barely come out with less than $3,000 or less.WIENER, J. (2015) Not Every individual is able to pay for college and this just isn't fair. A high percentage of students are independent while in high school and are forced to work because of their parents low income. What happens to that student? Smart in academics, good athlete but because they cannot pay for their proper education they are forced to forget about their dreams.

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 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.

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

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.

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

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

College is expensive for it does not cover books, fees, rides, food, room and board. Which is the main reason why college students and parents advocate that tuition should be lowered because there are so many other expenses. If college would lower tuition then it would be more accessible to low income families. This is proven by the statistics that The Christian Monitor (2009) has provided;

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.