AmandaHickmanResearch+Argument

Amanda Hickman Dr. Hartman November 7, 2010 English 103 Section 32 Are College Textbooks Too Expensive? As teenagers proceed throughout their high school years, they must the begin to focus on their next step in life. Many decide that that next step will be to further their education in a beneficial way, such as college. However, many high school students are unable to further their education by attending college because they are financially unable to gain the funds that are necessary to pay for it. A large group of students that are unable to find these funds attempt to use scholarships and grants to help them. Other students have to obtain a job and be a full time student simultaneously. In either case and many others, after gathering the funds to cover the price of tuition, students are then plummeted with another fee: textbooks. College textbooks can be a surprisingly expensive cost, and students find it difficult to find the money to fund these books. Are college textbooks too expensive or are the costs involved with textbooks “worth the cost?” Is there an effective way in getting these textbooks at a more reasonable price? College text books prices have become an increasingly exaggeratedly expensive cost for college students. Textbook prices can be placed in a very wide range of prices. However, that range is gradually moving into increasingly high numbers. Many students find it difficult to make enough money to fund for one book, let alone five or more. These books can range anywhere from 40 dollars to 300 dollars and more. “A General Accounting Office report in 2005 noted that textbook prices rose 186 percent in the U.S. from 1986 to 2004, compared to only a 3 percent rise in other prices over the same period and a 7 percent rise in average tuition and fees” writes Charlotte Allen of //Minding The Campus//. These facts demonstrate the absurd increasing prices of these books. Clearly, the costs of making these books are much less costly as the actual price associated with purchasing the books. As stated by James Koch in //The Real Cost of College Textbooks//, “the textbook market is like the pharmaceutical market: the people who have the most influence over when is purchased (doctors and professors) do not have to pay for their choices. Students do”. When a student takes a class in college, they must purchase the textbook that the professor requires, or their experience in the class will be very difficult. The professor chooses the textbook, and the student must purchase it. In many cases, professors might require multiple textbooks for their class. In return for these high prices, many students attempt to take the courses that they are in without purchasing all of the assigned textbooks. The National Association of College Stores “found that nearly 60 percent of students nationwide choose not to buy all the course materials”(Kinzie, Susan). This can be very damaging to the students financially when the students have multiple classes that they must take. People might argue that the cost of textbooks are not, actually, very expensive when other factors are considered. Given, individuals with this point of view are most likely not undergoing the struggling efforts that many students face to pay for college fees, nevertheless, their opinion should be taken into consideration. One opinion might be that since there is already a large sum for tuition being paid a fee for a few books is not much of an impact. This might be true for parents and students that are going to extremely expensive colleges with plenty of money for it. “But for students working to pay for school or for those whose parents sweat every increase in tuition, book prices can be a nasty surprise--one more thing putting college out of reach” for many students (Kinzie, Susan). Another argument might be that the cost off college textbooks is worth the cost in the long run. College textbooks might be extremely expensive these funds will make up for their expense in the outcome of a student’s education. This is a very true statement, but these costs are one of the many reasons that students are unable to further their education past High School. Is there an effective way of getting the required textbooks at a cheaper price? Many people argue that students should not be as concerned with the costs of college textbooks because there are cheaper, cost efficient ways of purchasing them. Bruce Hildebrand states that “students can use the ISBN numbers of new textbooks and supplements to go to publishers’ Web sites to get discounts, low-cost editions, e-textbooks, books online by the chapter, custom textbooks and more.” Hildebrand also notes that there are Web sites that offer e-textbooks that are from 50 to 60 percent cheaper than the actual books. By using a few hours, students can find the books that they are searching for on the internet for a reasonable price. Many students do not use the e-books, however, because it is not as convenient as having the actual textbook. Some students have not fully adapted to using computers and laptops for all college uses and learn much easier from having the actual textbook to learn from. Also, many professors do not allow the use of electronic devices within their classroom, making the use of the e-books difficult and in some cases a disruption to the classroom. There are alternative, cheaper ways of obtaining textbooks, but these ways are not always beneficial. College textbook prices are a frequent debate. Are the books too expensive, or does the expense of these textbooks have such a beneficial outcome that the price is considered minute? Is there a cheaper way of obtaining the textbooks? The benefits of college textbooks are exquisite, but people funding these books need to worry about the costs in the present as well as the future. The problem of not having the money to fund textbooks in the present is the issue at hand. Many people struggle to pay off college fees for many years, and textbooks are another number added to these fees. There are other methods of obtaining the required textbooks, but it can be rather inconvenient for many students who must then fall back on purchasing expensive textbooks from local campus bookstores. College textbook fees are an increasingly large burden upon college students.