I totally agree. The price that is charged for textbooks is why too much. The worse part is that publishers are always issuing new editions so the used ones, which are always priced ridiculously high as well, cannot be used that long. I myself have started using half.com to buy some of my textbooks. Where else can you sell a book for more than you payed for it, not at the bookstore that’s for sure.

Compare that with the cost of not buying the book. At a very low cost public schools, you might spend 1/3 as much on books as on tuition, and that’s with the tuition being heavily subsidized by the taxpayers in your state. And really, the books are more essential than the instructors for a lot of courses. Education is expensive, but most things really worth having are either free or very expensive. If you think about education as something you use for your whole lifetime, and divide the cost of all your college expenses by the number of years left in your life, even the most expensive schools are terrific bargains.

Somewhat — it really depends on the educational value of the book, as far as I’m concerned. Some of my higher-level ones that I’ve opted to keep are actually helpful, and I’ve even bought a few more lately (online, though) that I never even used for a class but liked having it for a handy reference.

I’m really more concerned about the buyback prices of books you don’t think you’ll want to keep vs. what at least most physical bookstores will turn around and sell the same book for next semester. . . .

Heck yeah!

Back when I was taking classes that required books I’d buy online–I think the most I ever spent in a given semester on books was about $300, and I even had a couple I sold back for more than I paid for them. Now, I just have to spend an outrageous amount of money on art supplies.

unfair to “lower middle class” people? How about everyone? no one likes paying $130.00 for a book you use one semester.

usually lower middle class have financial aid, so they dont pay any tuition . what about people who’s parents disqualify them and they aren’t allowed any financial aid but they are on their own???

college textbooks are always overpriced and will continue to be just like how the SAT’s do not really gauge how well a person will do in college, UNTIL students unite and resist the nonsense..basically refusing..

I am not sure, the answer they will give is that they are only put out in a limited number and so the publisher needs to get this costs and profits out of a short sales run. I think it is a scam as they know you will have to pay for them. I also do not like how many times a prof will use a book they wrote or are some how tied into. Can we say conflict of interest?

Boy oh boy, you hit the nail on the head !!! Colleges also charge more for their books than one can find online. If you need textbooks check http://www.half.com which is the bookselling area of e-bay. Prices are so much better there.

they priced quite high…if you can try to find another source where you can purchase textbooks (like at Portland State University there was a bookstore down the street that sold the books for less than the University bookstore)

Yes…it is a scam!!

I bought all of my for this starting semester online and have been doing so for over 3 years. One semester, I saved over $200 by doing so. www.abebooks.com is really good.

I love how when you want to sell it at the end of the semester, guess what happens? That edition has been revised because they changed a couple of sentences and you can’t sell it to the bookstore.

I once bought a $400 book for Physics and at the end of the semester the prof discontinued it for the next year so they offered me $25 for it. I took it outside and burned it in front of the student union.