CLASS TEXTBOOKS: THE FINAL EXPENSE

When it’s the start of a new term, teachers and students are thinking the same thing: How much do I have to shell out for the class textbook?

It’s like playing a game of chance because every class is different. For the most part, subjects are really “by the book” and therefore you gotta spend a couple hundred on the textbook; otherwise, you’re at a disadvantage. Then there are the more casual learning classes, where all your course reading is either done online or in class handouts. These are the ones that I prefer. 

Adding to the headaches of rising tuition costs and student debt, college textbooks are the thing that don’t hit you until you get past the other hurdles. After you let out that sigh of relief from sorting out financial aid, in comes the next obstacle, the teacher’s assigned textbook – the line in the bookstore is the least of your worries in obtaining it.

Even your instructor understands the problem with textbook costs and will do their best with accommodating, (using the MHCC portal or other website services) but that brings up the issue of copyright violations.

MHCC has actually made big steps to reduce the cost of textbooks by taking advantage of online services (a shift to Open Education Resources (OER) has saved Mt. Hood students an estimated $1.2 million in 2015-19, a new report shows) and going as far as not requiring a class textbook for some courses. These are changes I and many others hope expand and improve.

At the end of the day, these books aren’t supposed to be free, but the perception that higher education should be a free and easily accessible journey is getting more common. With pushes for tuition free college in the national political discourse and moves on the local level (the Oregon Promise Act) soon students will be willing to purchase textbooks because it will be the only thing they’ll have to worry about. Online websites such as eBay and Amazon have come in to compete with full-priced textbooks at more traditional outlets in response to the financial issues that come with going to college. 

Students are often encouraged by instructors to get a used copy of a textbook or use the MHCC Library’s resources. After all, the latter is provided through student tuition and fees. Campus bookstores should more open to different buying options; not every book has the potential to be rented out or bought back by the bookstore, for instance.

My biggest issue with textbooks is that after the term is over, I won’t need or use them again. They’ll just take up space in my room. That’s why there’s a whole marketplace for books not in use, because more than 95% of the information in these books is retained every year.

We live in the information age. People who grew up within it feel entitled to free information, and it’s not our fault, either, that it’s just one the things technology has made easier to obtain.

So, rather than going against the grain with regard to college finances and textbooks, our colleges and universities should embrace the rapidly growing movements of tuition free college and the use of technology in education. It’ll make the experience of higher education less stress-inducing and more attractive.

Advocate Staff