New textbook editions frustrate students

All right, confession time: I'm that weirdo who gets excited when a teacher hands me a syllabus telling me I have to read 15 books in a 14-week semester. I march down to the college bookstore, eager to buy the books and dive right into them when, to my dismay, I go to pay and find out that Spanish book is costing me a cool $159.95.

And the best part? I'm sure when I go to sell it back, I'll get a measly amount of money because the textbook comes with a workbook. The workbook can't be returned because I'll have written on the pages, ripped them out, and turned them into my professor. Total win-win situation, right?

Of course, that's assuming the same edition will be used next semester. If it's not, I get no money back, and I'm stuck with a textbook filled with scary conjugations and cruddy stories about preparing for a trip to Venezuela.

And I'll be filled with joy when I find out next semester that the only difference between my edition of the book and the new edition is that chapters three and seven were switched and there were some different cartoons of characters shopping for items labeled in Spanish.

Sometimes it seems professors don't care how expensive a text is. I had one professor who chose a book and workbook that cost around $180 and then proceeded to tell my class he had no clue how much the textbook cost. Mildly irritated doesn't begin to cover my feelings at that moment.

Now, I'm not saying all professors are oblivious or uncaring—I've had professors who have chosen to use a cheaper textbook despite favoring a different and more expensive one. I'd like to thank those professors for acknowledging my status as a starving student.

I've also had professors who forego textbooks altogether. Instead, they find information on websites pertinent to the subject and send their students to those websites instead. The best part is that the Internet happens to be free.

And many professors will allow students to use past editions of the books to cut costs. But, I've seen instances where students missed vital information that wasn't included in their editions. and received lowered grades on tests and quizzes. I wonder why professors can't continue to use the older editions where the changes made are minimal. I can understand if it involves science, where new discoveries can radically change the nature of a field, but is Spanish changing that rapidly? Or the history of the English language? Yeah, I didn't think so.

But, I don't think the root of the problem lies with professors. It lies with the monopolization college bookstores and publishing companies have on textbooks. Sure, you can go to Amazon.com and sign up for Amazon Prime and get free shipping, but usually the only companies available on Amazon Prime are the big, expensive publishing companies. So, they're still retaining their monopoly, and we poor schmucks get excited about free shipping.

The biggest problem though, is it feels there's not much that can be done about sky high prices. Students can't exactly boycott buying textbooks—we do want to pass our classes after all. But, I feel there are other alternatives. The library could have more than one copy of a textbook so more than one student could use it at a time. If a professor doesn't want to use information from websites, they can find online books for students to use. And the blame can't lie solely with professors—instead of whining about book prices, do something about it.

If you think the government should get involved, get a petition going and send it to the state legislation. Or you could set up study groups with people in your class and check the book out of the library and study together.

So, next time you bounce down to the bookstore only to be brought back down to Earth by the price of that Spanish book, brainstorm some alternatives and see if you can't find some cheaper ways to pass those classes.