Why do text-books cost so much!?

2008-06-16 22:33:11

#1

TrueMusou: Member; +36|6631|United States Of Hamerica

I started summer school today cause I wanted to get rid of some GE classes for my UNI. I once, again have to buy a g'damn text book...ONCE AGAIN, I'm faced with g'damn sticker shock. 70 g'damn dollars, 80 after tax!!! WTF IS THAT!?!?! What justifies them to charge 80 g'damn dollars for a piece of shit text book!? I mean how much money does it take to produce and publish the textbook? SURELY it can't be more production cost than say, a video game. Couple million dollars to produce a video game, and we as customers pay 50-60 dollars. Hey, that's reasonable....seeing how I'll actually enjoy owning and using the video game.

But a text book! Not only do I NOT want the sunovahbith, but it's someone telling me to buy it as a requirement...HEY, bitch, YOU BUY IT FOR ME if you want me to have it!!!

This is a g'damn consipiracy...

THoughts!?

2008-06-16 22:40:17

#2

GodFather: Blademaster's bottom bitch; +387|6690|Phoenix, AZ

Yeah, I have no clue...

Could be the....

Yeah, I got nothing.

Sucks for people in college because you guys have to actually buy it... im in HS and lucky, as long as I return my book in good shape I dont have to pay a dime

2008-06-16 22:46:18

#3

CommieChipmunk: Member; +488|7040|Portland, OR, USA

Just another way this country exploits it's student population. $40,000+ dollars a year for a private college education... but of course you can always go to a state funded school (my state recently ranked 46th in public university funding), or community college. The price of schooling is absolutely outrageous. It's so sad that such a "powerful" nation fails to adequately provide it's citizens with many of the basics; our education and health care systems don't necessarily fail, but they fall far behind much of the industrialized world.

But yeah, text books are a fucking joke

2008-06-16 22:55:32

#4

SenorToenails: Veritas et Scientia; +444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

I have several textbooks that cost $150 or more. Engineering, science, and math texts cost a obscene amount.

The key is to buy international editions. On eBay, half.com, amazon marketplace, etc... you can get $100 books for $20.

Of course, the downside is that the books are softcover and sometimes look like this:

https://www.senortoenails.com/trackr/pde.PNG

The inside is english. I was relieved to discover that when it was delivered.

Last edited by SenorToenails (2008-06-16 22:58:37)

2008-06-16 22:58:36

#5

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|7037|NYC / Hamburg

80$ is peanuts. I have to pay upwards of 1K$ for some of my my books. And 99% of my books cost at least 100$

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-06-16 22:58:56

#6

Ty: Mass Media Casualty; +2,398|7244|Noizyland

It's University life.
Thankfully with my papers this/last semester I only had to buy two text books, a total of $180 which sucks but is better than the $500+ some people have to fork out.

[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon

2008-06-16 23:00:50

#7

SenorToenails: Veritas et Scientia; +444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

max wrote:
80$ is peanuts. I have to pay upwards of 1K$ for some of my my books. And 99% of my books cost at least 100$

What did you buy that cost $1000 US?

I know there are books out there (like this one), I'm just curious.

2008-06-16 23:03:04

#8

GodFather: Blademaster's bottom bitch; +387|6690|Phoenix, AZ

max wrote:
80$ is peanuts. I have to pay upwards of 1K$ for some of my my books. And 99% of my books cost at least 100$

Oh yeah, that reminds me

My cousin does engineering, and he needed like 450 to 1k books for his courses.

The teacher was cleaning out his office or something and told him he could take what he wanted, some mint books that cost like 650 were in the books he grabbed, and he had like 3 of them...

needless to say he profited $

but texts over 100 bucks (especially over 500) are just bullshit, I mean seriously.... WHY?!

2008-06-16 23:10:32

#9

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|7037|NYC / Hamburg

SenorToenails wrote:
max wrote:
80$ is peanuts. I have to pay upwards of 1K$ for some of my my books. And 99% of my books cost at least 100$
What did you buy that cost $1000 US?

I know there are books out there (like this one), I'm just curious.

law commentaries. They go though each article one by one and tell you everything you could possibly need to know. The only way to properly write essay. Usually they are roughly 5000 pages thick and are split up into 2 books. Right now I own 6 of them (civil law, treaty law, civil procedural law, penal law, penal procedural law and constitution).

Next year when I graduate and start with engineering, that will be even more books. woot

GodFather wrote:
max wrote:
80$ is peanuts. I have to pay upwards of 1K$ for some of my my books. And 99% of my books cost at least 100$
Oh yeah, that reminds me

My cousin does engineering, and he needed like 450 to 1k books for his courses.

The teacher was cleaning out his office or something and told him he could take what he wanted, some mint books that cost like 650 were in the books he grabbed, and he had like 3 of them...

needless to say he profited $

but texts over 100 bucks (especially over 500) are just bullshit, I mean seriously.... WHY?!

they will often only print a couple hundred books, and since the cost to get the printers running is rather high, they have to ask for high prices. It's not like anyone is making a lot of money off them. Now why can't they just give us PDFs is beyond me

Last edited by max (2008-06-16 23:12:36)

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-06-16 23:11:51

#10

N00bkilla55404: Voices are calling...; +136|6401|Somewhere out in Space

Copyright payments

2008-06-16 23:15:21

#11

SenorToenails: Veritas et Scientia; +444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

max wrote:
Now why can't they just give us PDFs is beyond me

There are a lot of people who hate using PDFs as a replacement for printed books.

2008-06-16 23:16:34

#12

trex1210: I am Canadian; +72|6729|B.C. Canada

I remember last year I was taking advanced math right after high school and I had to pay 90$ for a freaking bunch of PHOTO COPIED PAPER!!! They photocopied the text book and sold those!!! LIKE WTF IS UP WITH THAT!!!! I complained so they told me to buy it or gtfo. They didnt actually say gtfo of course.

2008-06-16 23:50:39

#13

Nappy: Apprentice; +151|6699|NSW, Australia

i paid 180 for my textbooks and i had to get two

2008-06-16 23:57:31

#14

Benzin: Member; +576|6468

I wouldn't mind them putting them as PDFs with an interactive electronic book reader. Like that new thing Amazon is offering ...

2008-06-17 00:06:31

#15

Funky_Finny: Banned; +456|6602|Carnoustie, Scotland

Buy on E-bay second hand, then sell it third hand when you finish the course. No point in paying $300+ if you can get exactly the same education from a slightly more broken book for $50.

2008-06-17 00:06:54

#16

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6623|what

I hate it too. Especially when you see that your lecturer has prescribed an expensive textbook that it turns out he has also written. Nice way to make more money, make your students buy your own work!

2008-06-17 00:08:27

#17

TrueMusou: Member; +36|6631|United States Of Hamerica

Mind you this is SUMMER SCHOOL at a local Community College. 80 bucks for a friggin Intro Psych class. During the school year, I had to pay upwards 400 bucks per quarter at the UNI. Luckily my roommate dropped out of school and I took his books which saved me some $ for one quarter...but this is BS.

Edit: also, what about when the teacher requires you to buy a so and so book and you NEVER open the g'damn thing. I had a writing class in UNI where i bout 4 books, i used maybe 5 pages of one of them. WTF IS THAT!?

Last edited by TrueMusou (2008-06-17 00:10:08)

2008-06-17 00:08:49

#18

tkoi: Utahraptor!; +148|6617|Texas

They've got no competition. Think about it, your professor tells you to buy a book, it has to be the exact book he wants, and since only one publisher publishes that book.... well they can ask whatever they want for it since you pretty much have no choice but to buy it.

2008-06-17 00:10:42

#19

SenorToenails: Veritas et Scientia; +444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

TrueMusou wrote:
Mind you this is SUMMER SCHOOL at a local Community College. 80 bucks for a friggin Intro Psych class. During the school year, I had to pay upwards 400 bucks per quarter at the UNI. Luckily my roommate dropped out of school and I took his books which saved me some $ for one quarter...but this is BS.

A few weeks before classes start each semester, e-mail the professors and ask what books they will be using. Then go look them up on http://www.campusi.com/ and try to find them for less than the list price.

2008-06-17 00:12:18

#20

TrueMusou: Member; +36|6631|United States Of Hamerica

GGF0RCE wrote:
They've got no competition. Think about it, your professor tells you to buy a book, it has to be the exact book he wants, and since only one publisher publishes that book.... well they can ask whatever they want for it since you pretty much have no choice but to buy it.

Not to mention some of those recommended/required books are complete shit...I dunno if anyone has taken Gen. Chemistry and had to endure Zumdahl. But apparently, this sunovahbitch is quite popular here in CA. His book is complete horse shit. There's no way to follow it, my Profferssor, and SEVERAL TAs has expressed their frustration with the book. But you're right, seeing how there are so few publishers for certain subjects, they have us by the balls.

2008-06-17 00:20:34

#21

VicktorVauhn: Member; +319|6862|Southern California

You do get fucked over quite a bit, especially from the schools bookstore...

BUT Have you ever tried to write a text book? A lot of work right there man... and to some degree you are buying the knowledge as well as the physical book.

But yeah $450 + every 10 weeks sucks...Good thing I got the bank of mommy and daddy

2008-06-17 00:31:57

#22

S.Lythberg: Mastermind; +429|6917|Chicago, IL

college costs in America are absolutely despicable

that should be among the top goals of the new president, it would definitely help the economy, and provide us with a more educated work force later on.

2008-06-17 01:01:52

#23

SenorToenails: Veritas et Scientia; +444|6600|North Tonawanda, NY

S.Lythberg wrote:
college costs in America are absolutely despicable

that should be among the top goals of the new president, it would definitely help the economy, and provide us with a more educated work force later on.

It would be nice if low interest federal loans were more available for undergraduate education. Even more importantly, private education loans are the a manifestation of Satan himself (I'm looking at you, Sallie Mae). They find ways to attach debt to young people that even bankruptcy cannot eliminate, with abhorrent interest rates (some higher then 14%).

That, and schools need to stop competing with each other in price. The University of Rochester used to raise its tuition every year, and every time one of the 'reasons' was to stay competitive with NYU, who also raised their tuition. They were tied in US News and World Report.

Then there is the interesting case of Harvard.

2008-06-17 01:29:15

#24

Benzin: Member; +576|6468

S.Lythberg wrote:
college costs in America are absolutely despicable

that should be among the top goals of the new president, it would definitely help the economy, and provide us with a more educated work force later on.

Yes, what a WONDERFUL idea. Then we can also watch our collective salaries go down and the requirements for a decent salary will go up. With that line of thinking, what takes a bachelor for one job to make $40k annually, will next be a masters or even a doctorate - just to make $40k/year.

Education costs are pretty high up there, though. But here's a secret folks: SCHOLARSHIPS. There are so many of them out there. I just wish I could use some of them back in the States, but you can only apply most of them (read: pretty much everyone I have seen) to a US school.

2008-06-17 05:26:17

#25

wensleydale8: Member; +81|7239|LEEDS!!!!!, Yorkshire

not as bad as the Uni fees in the UK for a UK/euro student it's about £3145 a year but of your a international student some uni's charge you up to £12000 a year.

Dear God please let my karma one day reach 100, whether it be tomorrow or 1000 years in the future i want it to happen.

BF2S Forums Why do text-books cost so much!?

max wrote:

max wrote:

SenorToenails wrote:

max wrote:

GodFather wrote:

max wrote:

max wrote:

TrueMusou wrote:

GGF0RCE wrote:

S.Lythberg wrote:

S.Lythberg wrote:

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