With textbook prices climbing to the hundreds of dollars at USF St. Petersburg bookstore students question the integrity of professors requiring students to purchase their books and the struggle students face in the wake of these prices. Courtesy of Syd Wachs
By Vanessa Chase
Enrolling in classes means spending an unfortunate — and perhaps unnecessary — amount of money on textbooks.
College students are typically living off limited income, and costs like $300 textbooks are what can ultimately decide if Ramen noodles and water will be what’s for dinner.
Professors should be fully aware of this, and most of them are, but maybe not all. It’s common for professors to require a text they have written themselves. This takes money out of students’ pockets and places it into the professors’.
Instructors are granted the privilege of being able to choose which texts they’d like to use to teach the curriculum because they should know what the best books for the class are.
However, when the options contain some of their own books, can the university really put the responsibility of choosing in the hands of the professor?
One would think there’s an undefined level of trust and integrity that prevents any sort of exploitation, but textbook bills piling up to hundreds of dollars each semester indicate otherwise.
Regardless of their major, students will inevitably spend hundreds on these required books, though science and business books do tend to sell at a higher price because of the research involved in writing them.
The issue of textbook prices has been long debated and criticized, so it makes sense that Bright Futures offers a grant intended to compensate some of the costs.
However, this grant is not usable at the USF St. Petersburg bookstore. According to a bookstore employee, workers are encouraged to sell the books in-store and not mention the online alternatives, which are almost always cheaper.
The most expensive book sold at the USF St. Petersburg bookstore is the Auditing and Assurance Services textbook, priced at $324. Other business and science books can be found for similar prices, while history, English and art textbooks are slightly cheaper.
The language department requires each student to purchase not only the online version of the textbook, but the hard copy as well, which totals over $300.
The reasons for this are unclear, since both books contain the same information and students should hypothetically be allowed to use their online textbook in class. A Spanish professor claims the department does make exceptions for those who cannot afford the three hundred dollar books.
This bears the question: Where does the school get to draw the line on who can and can’t afford textbooks? Are struggling students being taken advantage of?
