My daughter went to the college bookstore to buy books. This isn't her first rodeo, but she came to Dad for help. We shopped Amazon.com and got her the books she needed, and while I am always ready to help my children with education expenses, I am amazed at the difference in the price of fiction, non-fiction, and text books.
Don't tell me about buying used. You can buy used at Amazon.com, too. We're talking about new books here.
So, let me get this straight. You can buy the Editors Picks of fiction and non-fiction books for about $25.00, new and hardcover, but new textbooks cost over $100.00? Someone is ripping off college students, and frankly, I don't know why caring professors everywhere don't put a halt to it. Any textbook printed should cost no more than the latest and greatest on the New York Times bestseller list.
I mean, it's a book, right? Has pages and covers and words in the middle? Then why should a chemistry text cost four times what the #1 bestseller costs?
Matter of fact, no state sponsored college or university should be able to buy any book that costs more than the average price of the books on the New York Times fiction list.
I think I am going to write my legislator.
I think it's because of the time spent writing textbooks. If you write a novel and it gets published with some information that's wrong, you can say.."My bad...but it IS fiction after all"..but with a college textbook, if the information contained therein is faulty, then it's not such a simple matter.
ReplyDeleteWhen a textbook is written, the vast majority of the information is not new. It is mostly just in a modern (different) format, so there is a low chance for faulty information, with a little effort.
ReplyDeleteThe professor(s) who author the textbooks get royalties and I strongly suspect that there are cooperative agreements between professors from different universities to use each other's books.
Pawpaw, make sure your legislator isn't a former professor...
I agree with the above it may just be a volume thing they sell tons of best sellers.I agree with you on the M4 we really need to back to the .308 or maybe the grendel cartridge (6.5) for the M16 platform
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above it may just be a volume thing they sell tons of best sellers.I agree with you on the M4 we really need to back to the .308 or maybe the grendel cartridge (6.5) for the M16 platform
ReplyDeleteIf you want to get textbooks at a reasonable price, check out the price(s) at amazon.com - uk, india, etc. Even with shipping, it will be cheaper than here.
ReplyDelete