Prices such as the one above are seen throughout colleges all over the United States.

Information on the Price of College Textbooks

Odds are, if you stumbled onto this website you are probably upset about the price of college textbooks.

 

That is for good reason. The average new college textbook price is over $100 at $102.44. That figure was obtained by http://calpirg.org/CA.asp?id2=11987&id3, and is from the 2003-04 college season.

 

In fact, students spend upwards of $1000 dollars a year on textbooks.

Couple that with how expensive college tuition is and you can see why many people have a growing problem with this issue.

 

The good news is that however bad the situation seems, there are ways to combat this growing problem.

· One way is to call up your local bookstore. Tell them that you are sick and tired of paying prices for college textbooks that even the mob would view as extreme. If enough people complain the bookstores will eventually have to do something.

· Another way, (should be done by bookstore) would be to post books online. A system that would be similar to Napster and music would work well. To make up for lost revenue, bookstores could sell ad space in order to turn a profit.

· A really easy way to reduce the price of college books would be to cut out the package bundles. The extra CD’s or DVD’s are almost always wasted up the buyer of the book. Removing these items will help to reduce the price of most books by a lot.

· An option students could use would be to boycott their local bookstores. Since college bookstores main customers are college students, this would devastate their businesses.

· Another idea for students to take part in would be a book swap. In this process, students could trade books with each other as a way of avoiding to have to purchase expensive textbooks.

· A way universities could help with the problem would be to institute a library type system. In this, universities would “lend” out books much like public high school do.

· There is an easy way publishers can help with the problem. Every year these companies re-make books or create new editions. This raises the price up tremendously. If the publishers just ceased this operation, it could save college students a lot of money.

The bottom line is that something needs to be done about the running problem of college textbook prices. The ideas list above are just a start. It could help millions of people if you could come up with a great new idea that could revolutionize the industry. That is why I created this site, to give fuel to ideas that people may already have. Remember one thing: you do not have to keep paying outrageous prices for pieces of paper with words on them. It is up to YOU to fix this problem. That is what this country is all about. The bottom line is write your congressman, complain to the bookstores, but just make sure you do something.

Thank you for visiting and please come again!

You can contact me with ideas at this address: rrilling@kent.edu