The Times

Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Opinion

Each school year after choosing which classes to take students go on a frantic search looking for textbooks for each one of their classes. Sometimes finding that specific edition your instructor wants can be a piece of cake other times you might find yourself down on your luck and scouring bookstores and the internet just isn't enough.

While college textbooks help students to gain a better understanding of what they are learning, most students would rather take a college course without the resource of a textbook, simply because of the cost of a new textbook or the cost of a used textbook.

New textbooks can be very useful but can also cost a fortune to use for just one semester. You could sell the textbook back to the college bookstore, but you won't get anywhere near as much as you paid.

Buying textbooks used or pre-owned seems to be popular because of a reduced price, but when purchasing a used textbook you run the risk of buying a textbook with missing pages or the previous owner's notes and highlighting marks.



Most publishing companies release new textbooks every year. There's nothing wrong with keeping information current and up to date for students, however with releasing a new textbook every year it's hard for instructors to adapt to a new textbook at the start of every new school year. With the dozens of editions available for a single textbook students must purchase the most recent edition or their instructor's preference, which can be pretty costly.

Publishing companies should release new textbooks every four years. This gives enough time for instructors and students to stick to only one textbook for a longer period of time. It also gives publishing companies more time to gather information and to spend more production hours on a more complete and informative textbook.



What would really be helpful for students is if the state government subsidized the cost of textbooks. Subsidizing textbooks would lower the cost of buying textbooks, which would help students with their college education financial situations. Only time will tell if the cost of textbooks will decrease in the coming years until then remember the extra money towards your textbooks now will benefit you in the long run.

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