Each semester college students across the country are faced with a harsh reality: the ridiculously high cost of college textbooks. While some textbooks can be as inexpensive as a bag of chips, others can cost as much as a laptop computer, and for students who typically only use each book for one semester (roughly 3.5 months) the investment doesn’t always seem worth it. The expense of having to buy books puts an even bigger burden on those who are already struggling to pay for an education and a recent survey shows that 65% of students did not purchase a book they felt was too expensive and nearly 50% of students said that the high cost of textbooks affected how many classes they enrolled in. The reason behind the high, and still rising, price of college textbooks is something that many students are curious to know as prices for these books has risen over 80% in the last 10 years.
One reason for these high prices is the fact that college textbooks are expensive to make with the estimated price for creating a textbook reported as high as $750,000. This price is due to the books’ “massive” size, as well as the the large amount of editorial work that goes into their creation. Another reason for the books’ price tags are the fact that competition among textbook publishers has grown, requiring publication companies to release new editions more frequently than the original five year standard. Also, putting together a textbook requires involvement from many people-all of whom must be paid.
Many colleges and universities have attempted to soften the blow by allowing students to rent directly from the bookstore; and while this option is cheaper than purchasing the book outright, bookstore rentals are still more expensive than other options. In today’s economy it is important that consumers spend wisely, and while the price of traditional college textbooks will probably not decline anytime in the near future, thanks to technology students now have other options for purchasing books. Students no longer have to rely on the bookstore for their textbooks as many books are now available for digital download. Those looking to save money can also purchase books from internet retailers such as Amazon, and may even be find their textbooks for rent on popular book rental sites such as Chegg.
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