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This is bikeshedding at its finest. Textbooks were a minor, tiny part of the total cost of attending college. When you put the cost of books next to tuition, r

This is bikeshedding at its finest. Textbooks were a minor, tiny part of the total cost of attending college. When you put the cost of books next to tuition, room and board and opportunity cost of not attending college, it's barely noticeable. I probably spent no more than $250 on books per semester (less on average, thanks to used books and online materials). This is almost as comical as a hypothetical scenario of putting public terminals in health clinics that point you to WebMD, in an attempt to cut medical costs in the US.

sathackr 10y ago
The local public state college I attended was roughly $150/credit hour. So about $1800/semester was my cost. Books were up to $300 per class. Sometimes I could find a used one, but often it was a previous "edition" which didn't quite match the teacher's latest edition. I spent around $500/semester in books, sometimes less, sometimes more. Which is about 1/4 of my total cost(yes I know the actual tuition was subsidized)
- antisthenes 10y ago
  Guess my university was just better at giving options for accessing the material. A good ~30% of the classes didn't even require books (lectures and chapters were available online), and the other 60% you could easy get used books for half the cost. The last 10% were classes where you had to buy a "workbook", which were only available new, but they didn't come anywhere close to $300, maybe 80-100.
thomastjeffery 10y ago
Just because the problem that millions of Americans around you have does not reflect your own experience, does not make it any less real. Even if you attend a college with an absurdly expensive tuition, there are plenty of students who attend with a scholarship that covers it, and nothing else. Textbooks are, for the vast majority of college attendees, a major expense. Required textbooks are simply immoral. They only benefit the publisher.
BeetleB 10y ago
1. It can be expensive for people who have tuition waivers. All of a sudden it is not a tiny part of the cost. 2. It's somewhat a matter of principle. People have long had the expectation that if they are paying the university tuition fees, then those fees should cover all of the tuition. What if they suddenly decided to charge $50 per course to let you take the final exam? Or an additional $25 per course to give you access to the class web site? Or a daily $5 entrance fee to access the grounds of the college? I think it's fair for people to ask why they are paying tuition fees if they don't cover their education.

sathackr 10y ago

The local public state college I attended was roughly $150/credit hour. So about $1800/semester was my cost. Books were up to $300 per class. Sometimes I could find a used one, but often it was a previous "edition" which didn't quite match the teacher's latest edition. I spent around $500/semester in books, sometimes less, sometimes more. Which is about 1/4 of my total cost(yes I know the actual tuition was subsidized)

antisthenes 10y ago
Guess my university was just better at giving options for accessing the material. A good ~30% of the classes didn't even require books (lectures and chapters were available online), and the other 60% you could easy get used books for half the cost. The last 10% were classes where you had to buy a "workbook", which were only available new, but they didn't come anywhere close to $300, maybe 80-100.

thomastjeffery 10y ago

Just because the problem that millions of Americans around you have does not reflect your own experience, does not make it any less real. Even if you attend a college with an absurdly expensive tuition, there are plenty of students who attend with a scholarship that covers it, and nothing else. Textbooks are, for the vast majority of college attendees, a major expense. Required textbooks are simply immoral. They only benefit the publisher.

BeetleB 10y ago

1. It can be expensive for people who have tuition waivers. All of a sudden it is not a tiny part of the cost. 2. It's somewhat a matter of principle. People have long had the expectation that if they are paying the university tuition fees, then those fees should cover all of the tuition. What if they suddenly decided to charge $50 per course to let you take the final exam? Or an additional $25 per course to give you access to the class web site? Or a daily $5 entrance fee to access the grounds of the college? I think it's fair for people to ask why they are paying tuition fees if they don't cover their education.