Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Affordable Textbooks? Cabrillo College students and instructors weigh in...



"This is Nicola, a Cabrillo College student. 72% of her education expenses go towards buying textbooks. On average, a student like her will spend nine hundred dollars a year on textbooks. In a classroom of 30 students that amounts to 27,000 dollars a year..."

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10 comments:

Bob Cosgrove said...

A number of my students (say 10 in each class) do NOT have text books: some have different translations than the required text, some have earlier editions. It is a problem in the Classical Mythology class and in the World Lit class (ancient period) I conduct. I have some copies of required texts on reserve and some extras I lend but with more students unable (apparently) to pay for books, it's becoming a very serious problem.

Anonymous said...

Yes; really a frustrating problem at my U, as well. Do you have on-line lists of students whom you can email all at once? Many of us at Redlands have taken to emailing our students 2-3 weeks before the start of class to let them know (though they have already seen it in our Schedule of Classes, thanks to that new federal law) what the text is. We emphasize that they must get *this* particular edition, and that they need to order right away if they are buying on-line, to have to book in hand the first day of class.

Alas: it doesn't always work. But I think it helps.

Disturbing and importantly related issue: do students read email any more?--or just rely on texting, etc.?

MAH

Anonymous said...

My student at IVC went to buy the textbook at the officially sanctioned bookstore- it was OUT - put his name on a list for a backordered textbook - went to pick up and found they sent it back!

Is there any quality control here? Any way of addressing this?

Anonymous said...

Who oversees the management of the bookstore? If we contract it out, do we have any say about HOW it functions?

Anonymous said...

Here at Saddleback it's a subcontractor (Folett I believe), but still comes under the auspices of Student Services.
My son always ordered his books online and only had a problem when they were slow in arriving.

Bob Cosgrove at Saddleback said...

We do have a blast e-mail that I can and did send to students a week or two before the term to let them know of the texts required. And, yes, I think that helped.

Anonymous said...

It would be nice to have some action on this issue at our college.

Nicole Smith said...

I think there are many ways to save on textbook shopping. Buying used from online sources and reselling at the end of semester through amazon or half.com, using international edition whenever possible, use of previous edition textbooks, inter library services, buying directly from colleges students can all save money. Websites like affordtextbooks.com also help compare textbook prices before buying, renting or selling.

Vinodhini said...

With the economic downturn it is important for students to find ways to spend their money wisely in college. The average expense of textbooks can add up to around $1000 a year. Students have a better chance on saving money at College by buying and selling their textbooks from other fellow students. That’s where a new website, CampusBookHound.com, comes in as an online marketplace for students to buy and sell textbooks locally. CampusBookHound allows students to search for the books they want to buy and place a free bid or submit an ad for the book that they want to sell for just $1 per book. Connecting students with a local marketplace to buy and sell textbooks empowers students to take back control of the textbook industry.
Students may not be able to control the rising cost of college tuition but they can take the power of pricing away from the book publishers and bookstores that monopolize the market of textbooks sales.
To learn more visit www.CampuBookHound.com.

Vinodhini said...
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