College Textbooks Are Too Expensive for Financially-Challenged Students

College textbooks are too expensive for financially-challenged students. First and most important

as we know, the majority of college students are broke and textbooks are expensive. This for

many students doesn't make for a very peaceful start to the semester. To be honest, most of them

don't mind paying for good, informative books they use to learn from throughout a semester.

However, when they pay $70 for that new edition and never take off the cellophane, we've got a

problem. One semester I had $115 worth of unused textbooks. Two more have more than $100

each sitting untouched on their shelves. There's nothing worse than getting four weeks into the

semester and realizing you wasted hundreds of dollars worth of textbooks. Second, those $100

textbooks will resell for maybe $30 if your lucky. Students don't mind reading and learning:

That's what their in college for. But if they're not going to get anything out of the required

reading, why should it be required in the first place? Before instructors add that pricey book to

the required reading list, they should think about the options. Is the material in that $100 book

essential to their class? Could they teach the material in person instead? Could they include it as

a PowerPoint or document that can be accessed for free on Blackboard? Or maybe even have the

material available online instead? Students understand plans change, schedules change, and

sometimes they don't get to all the material you had planned to cover in a semester. But for the

sake of student's empty wallets, teachers should think more carefully next time before they fill

out their required reading list.

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