Ijust bought a used, soft cover textbook on eBay for $16. It's a good thing I didn't go to the University Bookstore because they sell the same used, soft cover textbook for $51. I decided to check the same book at the Underground Textbook Exchange. $51 again.
This is the nature of capitalism. These businesses sell convenience more than books, and they get away with charging exorbitant prices because the vast majority of students are willing to pay them. Therefore, if students are feeling the financial strain of being gouged, the first solution is for them to take some personal responsibility. They need to e-mail their professors to ask what books they need well before the start of the semester, and they need to shop around for the lowest prices.
This requires less physical effort than you may think, given that e-mailing professors, calling bookstores and ordering books online to be delivered to your door can all be done without trudging over to Library Mall or State Street. Sure, a few e-mails and Internet searches could eat up half an hour of time otherwise spent watching \The O.C.,"" but if it saves you from buying books over 300 percent above the cover price, I'd say it's well worth the effort.
In addition, the UW-Madison administration should take steps to expedite the search process. Right now, the closest thing the university has to advance listings of textbooks is having books from classes that were taught in previous semesters on reserve in university libraries. Needless to say, this is far from adequate.
The Associated Students of Madison Academic Affairs Committee has been attempting to either get required readings posted alongside class listings in the Timetable or to establish a website where professors could post the titles of their assigned textbooks before the semester begins. According to Academic Affairs Chair Ashok Kumar, the former has been all but ruled out by the university as too difficult to compile and coordinate. As Kumar points out, ""the Underground Textbook Exchange has eight or 12 people working full-time calling some departments but mostly individual professors to get names of assigned textbooks.""
While it seems incredible that the entire bureaucratic apparatus of UW-Madison can't produce at least that many people to compile textbook information, the alternative of a website would also be helpful. Professors could input their university identification codes and upload their textbook assignments far in advance of the coming semester. That way, students would have plenty of time to shop for reasonably priced books, and the Underground Textbook Exchange would not have to barrage every department on campus with repeated requests for book information.
Another idea would be to have professors send introductory e-mails to their class lists for the coming semester, informing them of what books they need to buy. Some already do this, but most don't, thus the administration should lean on departments to lean on all their professors to send out these e-mails by a certain date, at least three weeks before the start of the semester. This process would require a negligible amount of the professor's time, and it would be highly convenient and cost-effective for students.
Textbook affordability is the kind of issue on which student government can exert great influence. ASM should continue to be involved in actively fighting for one of the above proposals.
Professors and university administrators also have an obligation to ensure that students are given the highest levels of service to partially compensate for skyrocketing tuition. Tuition hikes can be somewhat justified by state budgetary constraints, but there is no excuse whatsoever for allowing establishments like the University Bookstore and the Underground Textbook Exchange, both of which are private, for-profit companies not affiliated with the university, to shamelessly exploit students who are already struggling to pay tuition bills.
The bottom line, however, is that the best way to save money on textbooks is to take the initiative and find cheaper ones in advance. Hopefully ASM and the university will eventually come through to make the process easier, but until then, we students must decide how much the instruments of our education are worth to us. And I know for a fact that they're not quite worth the amount of money the University Bookstore would like us to believe they are.
Nick Barbash is a sophomore majoring in political science and international studies. He can be reached at opinion@dailycardinal.com. His column runs every Thursday in
The Daily Cardinal.
