INTRODUCTION
I. I still remember paying for my college textbooks last semester for the first time and then this semester, it is still a nightmare for me. As a whole, I paid about $500 on my textbooks for this year. Yet there were about 4 books that were not even used, and 5 of them were new editions with only few things changed on them.
II. The prices of textbooks are really high, which prevents students from buying textbooks.
III. After getting my surveys back, I saw that everyone in this class thought that textbook prices are too high and everyone paid about $200 - $300 for one textbook.
IV. Even I have paid around $280 for one single book, and we never used the book in class.
V. Today, I am going to talk about how many students are affected with textbook prices being so high and some alternatives they could use to reduce the cost of textbooks to benefit them.
BODY
I. The rising cost of textbook prices are one of the main issues every college student deals with.
A. There have been so many surveys taken by people on how textbook prices affect students.
1. Average students in thi...
College is marketed towards students as an essential part of building a successful future. The United States “sells college” to those who are willing to buy into the business (Lee 671). With the massive amounts of student debts acquired every year, and the rising costs of
This article, “Why Are Textbooks So Expensive?” by Henry Roediger reveals the truth of why textbooks are so pricey. He shows how textbooks prices are costly not because of inflation, corporate textbook companies, and frequent revisions, but because of the sale of used textbooks. The article is elaborating on why used textbooks are the real culprit as well. One main point that is highlighted is that used textbooks are resold for many years. The initial selling of the textbook is the only time the author will make a profit, but the bookstore will make a profit every time they resell a used book. It is essential for the author to raise the price to compensate for the loss of money when dealing with used textbooks.
In a recent study that was conducted the rate of individuals attending college has increased. This increase in students comes at a time when the country has been described as being in a recession. With job losses, companies closing and lack of job availability many people are returning to school. This return to the classroom comes at a cost. The rate of college tuition has risen in the last few years. In my home state of Kentucky, it appears both of the major Universities have asked to raise tuition every other year. When college cost rise so does the tools needed to attend college. One of the most expensive tools is books. Last year I enrolled my son in college when calculating the books for his classes, we soon learned that the cost of his books and the cost of my books were almost on month’s salary. My family soon learned if we were going to be able to not only attend college but have the necessary tools needed, we would have to consider alternatives to buying books. I did some research and soon discovered that technology had again come to the rescue. I found a company called Chegg that is an online book rental company. This company provides students with an alternative to buying books by renting them for a portion of the price. According to their article in CrunchBase named “Chegg edit” the company began at Iowa University in 2005 as a “hyper-local” classified directory. It was not until 2007 that the company introduced their textbook rental service. When looking at the company from an Information Systems standpoint I would say it ranks up there with the creative ideas of the century. You go online type in your order and it is processed within a matter of days. During the next portion of this paper we will loo...
Forty-two states have adopted Common Core State Standards. These standards were created to focus only on English and Mathematics. In effect of states adopting Common Core Standards, all other subjects taught in school seemed less important. History and Science standards are no longer stressed. Students are limited to being proficient in only two subjects. The Common Core deprives students’ ability to be skilled in multiple areas. These standards do not provide a slight “break” from the challenging fast past teaching of English and Mathematics. In addition to limiting education to English and Mathematics, Jill Bowden explains that the Common Core is affecting kindergarteners by taking “away from materials that encourage playful learning.” (36).
The skyrocketing price of college tuition is causing a tremendous concern over whether higher education will be a viable financial concept to the average citizen over the next decades. Some families have opted to explore different means of obtaining a higher education for their children as these costs escalate. There is overwhelming evidence that colleges need to restructure the way they are run because tuition prices are increasing at a rapid rate causing changes in the way students fund their education and in the way the government provides educational subsidies.
Ask any college student to state one of their largest expenses and it would be safe to bet the response would be “Textbook prices!” The cost of purchasing required materials for courses has reached numbers high enough to cause many students to take out second loans. Information released this year by the American Enterprise Institute shows that “College textbook prices have increased faster than tuition, health care costs and housing prices, all of which have risen faster than inflation” (Kingkade, 2013). This information equates to an 812% increase in the cost of college textbooks over what they were just over thirty years ago (Kingkade, 2013). The figure here shows an unusually large increase that has far outpaced that of average inflation.
There is no escaping the fact that the cost of college tuition continues to rise in the United States each year. To make it worse, having a college degree is no longer an option, but a requirement in today’s society. According to data gathered by the College Board, total costs at public four-year institutions rose more rapidly between 2003-04 and 2013-14 than they did during either of the two preceding decades (Collegeboard.com). Students are pressured to continue into higher education, but yet, the increasing costs of books and tuition make us think twice. Sometimes, some of these students have to leave with their education partially finished, leaving them with crushing debts.
According to the New York Times article by Steve Cohen, the soaring cost of college a 1,225 percent increase
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
With the rapid growth of college tuition, it has become an important issue in higher education. College Tuition is simply defined as the charge or fee for instruction, at a private school or a college or a university. Most people agree today that college tuition is too high or that it needs to be completely dismissed. There are some however, that may disagree with the claim about college tuition and state that college tuition is necessary for college growth, and it’s primary purpose is to pay for college expenses to support the institution financially. Research shows that college tuition is too high and that debt has become a standard in America after attending post-secondary school.
In conclusion, America provides many ways to help reduce the cost of college textbooks but society is still not satisfied with the outcome. The Open Textbook, Affordable Textbook Act, and book store rentals are wonderful programs, but has its disadvantages that hopefully would be resolved in the 2016 presidential elections. The statistics show that many students across the nation benefit from learning with quality of teaching, the amount of accessibility it provides without having to worry about paying off student loans. School administrations should consider about transferring to an act that would benefit both the school and the students, but also provide more equality to the publishers and students.
In Austin, Texas, every decade fifteen people influence what is taught to the next generation of American children. The highly politicized Texas Board of Education gets to rewrite the teaching standards and textbook standards for its approximate 5 million schoolchildren. However, any changes made in Texas, trickle down into the rest of the nation. Texas is home to one of the nation's largest textbook markets (the other being the state of California), because as a state, it decides what textbooks schools can buy, rather than leaving it up to local districts (“The Revolutionaries”). Hence, publishers face the economic conundrum of whether they curtail the intellect...
"As Costs of Textbooks Rise, E-books Emerge as More Affordable Alternative." The Daily Illini. Brittany Gibson, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Tuition in colleges go up typically every year, both in four year and two year schools. This can be
That day I got to know that even the cost of books had a direct impact on how many or which classes students took. Even some students try to get through classes without buying the books, which has affected their grades badly. A 2014 study conducted by the Student Public Interest Research Group found 65 percent of students skipped purchasing a textbook because of cost(Senack11). Along with these problems, some professors demand a specific edition of textbooks which would cost hundreds of dollars more than the older version and the only difference students could find is the physical appearance of the books. The California Student Public Interest Research Group published a study in 2004 that found new editions cost 58 percent more than older editions and newer editions are not that different from previous