OPINION: Let’s face it, being a college student is not easy or cheap. At the start of every new semester, college students are faced with a number of daunting costs, one of them including buying textbooks.
Even though St. Francis College students are lucky to attend one of the most affordable private colleges, tuition is still a factor.
While students are worrying about tuition costs, most students can relate to the headache-inducing list of textbooks that they need to purchase for the new semester.
“I had to take out a loan so that I could buy textbooks! I’ve spent over $600 in books this year, and I’ve only used about two of them," said St. Francis College Honors student, Gregory Killebrew. “Right now, I’m trying to take classes with people I know so that we could split a book.”
What makes students angry is that some professors require students to buy more than one expensive textbook. What is even more infuriating is that some of the professors don’t even use the textbook(s) that they require for the class.
At the end of the semester, students are not able to sell back the textbooks for a profit; the school bookstore buys back books for approximately one-tenth of its original price.
“My view is that if they [professors] are going to have us buy all of these textbooks, they might as well have us use them for some productive use, rather than not use them, which has been the case for some of the classes I’ve had to buy books for,” said Travis Hentrich. “I’m stuck with books I haven’t even read yet.
If I’d known they’d want us to just read the introduction, I could’ve just easily gotten a photocopy to the introduction.”
Some professors make students buy certain books simply because their friends and associates wrote them. Most students will agree that having to buy textbooks is a great pain. In this economy, most students can barely afford to juggle so many student related costs, such as transportation, food, and tuition. Expensive textbook prices are just another pain, we as college students, have to endure.