St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Kelsey Fenton

The cost of textbooks has always been an issue for conscientious, frugal students. But at the end of the fall semester, I realized how complacent we have been as students by allowing ourselves to be exploited. Complaining via Facebook statuses may be a means of venting, but I'm not patient enough to keep throwing $300.00 at the bookstore, only to receive a $30.00 return. And yes, dearest bookstore, I did everything you told me to do, such as reading like a maniac so I could return my books as soon as possible, thereby receiving the best return?all $0.50 of it.

I realize textbook prices have risen due to added resources and new editions, but are these textbooks commensurately better? While the content of many textbooks is updated and revised, these are not major revisions, unless the basic principles of calculus have changed since the last edition, or a new chronology of U.S. History has been discovered. Further, publishing companies have such a strong hold on the market that students can rarely take advantage of lower international prices for the same books.

I'm not going to blame the bookstore for being apathetic to our concerns because as a non-profit entity, the bookstore does work to keep book prices down-but can they do more? I bought a book in excellent condition for $0.12 on Amazon that would have cost me $15.00 at the bookstore. The problem arises when more students purchase books from places such as Amazon because the bookstore then has to compensate for their low profit margin by increasing the price of books. Perhaps the administration and library can aid the bookstore and students by alleviating the inflating textbook prices and using a textbook rental service that schools such as UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse implemented in March 2009.

While the publishing companies may continue appealing to their marketing structures, the bookstore, library and faculty do not have to be dragged along this road of greed and profit margins. To facilitate more discussion on this topic, the bookstore can try to maintain dialogue with students and students can offer suggestions. Also, faculty ought to consider costs, incorporate textbook questions on course evaluations, avoid new editions with few changes, ensure that the textbook is used in its entirety and offer significant reading passages to be downloaded (legally, of course). The least we can do is return to some semblance of equity, so we can read and learn without resorting to plasma donations.

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