I'm going back to school to finally earn my bachelor's degree. It'll take me a while, I get one free class per term by virtue of being a University of Kansas employee, and I'm not interested in incurring any more debt, so I'm looking at about 6 years. I can handle that.
What I cannot handle is this- When I started my math class this summer, I went to the bookstore and found out that a new math book would be $111. I didn't buy it, I got a $40 used book. Turns out the used book doesn't have the access code for the online portion of the class, so I have to get that separately. OK- fine.
As recommended by the math department, I went to the bookstore on campus to purchase my access code. They do not have the separate access code in stock, but I could purchase the package of access code + new book for $111.
I have already purchased a used book for $40. I can’t see any reason to have two books, so I looked online, to purchase it from MyMathLab directly. $95.80. NINETY FIVE DOLLARS AND EIGHTY CENTS.
This is ridiculous. What possible reason is there for the code to cost that much, beyond the fact that MML can charge it? What if I don’t pay? What if I choose to NOT do the MathLab portions of Math 101 for the rest of my class? How badly would my grade suffer?
I'm guessing it would suffer quite a bit. ( actually- it turns out I'd lose 13% of my grade) So I'm stuck having to drop $95 on a stupid access code for a class that will be over in a month. I was furious to the point of tears.
Welcome to the world of "Why Students are $50,000+ In Debt When They Graduate." My "free" class (for which I really am grateful) would have cost me over $250 if I hadn't been able to borrow a graphing calculator. ($119 at the bookstore, for the cheap one at that!) As it stands I'm down $135.
Why is this accepted? Why is it ok for textbook companies to charge exorbitant prices, and then more often than not, not allow a decent return rate? I can't tell you how many times I've tried to return a college text only to be told the edition had changed, the prof decided not to use it again, or just flat out "no."
And this brings me to another point. Part of my job is to educate people on the 3 Rs of sustainability- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. By purchasing a used book, instead of a new one, I felt I was upholding the "Reuse" part of all of that. But, to put it bluntly, I got screwed. I tried to save money, I tried to do the right thing ecologically, and I was smacked for it.
What does that say about the sustainability movement? To me it says "We'll pay you lip service, but we're not going to cut into our profits to save the environment or anything else."
Richard Branson quoted Gro Brundtland (the first female PM of Norway, and one of The Elders) recently, while at the Rio+20 Summit:
What I cannot handle is this- When I started my math class this summer, I went to the bookstore and found out that a new math book would be $111. I didn't buy it, I got a $40 used book. Turns out the used book doesn't have the access code for the online portion of the class, so I have to get that separately. OK- fine.
As recommended by the math department, I went to the bookstore on campus to purchase my access code. They do not have the separate access code in stock, but I could purchase the package of access code + new book for $111.
I have already purchased a used book for $40. I can’t see any reason to have two books, so I looked online, to purchase it from MyMathLab directly. $95.80. NINETY FIVE DOLLARS AND EIGHTY CENTS.
This is ridiculous. What possible reason is there for the code to cost that much, beyond the fact that MML can charge it? What if I don’t pay? What if I choose to NOT do the MathLab portions of Math 101 for the rest of my class? How badly would my grade suffer?
I'm guessing it would suffer quite a bit. ( actually- it turns out I'd lose 13% of my grade) So I'm stuck having to drop $95 on a stupid access code for a class that will be over in a month. I was furious to the point of tears.
Welcome to the world of "Why Students are $50,000+ In Debt When They Graduate." My "free" class (for which I really am grateful) would have cost me over $250 if I hadn't been able to borrow a graphing calculator. ($119 at the bookstore, for the cheap one at that!) As it stands I'm down $135.
Why is this accepted? Why is it ok for textbook companies to charge exorbitant prices, and then more often than not, not allow a decent return rate? I can't tell you how many times I've tried to return a college text only to be told the edition had changed, the prof decided not to use it again, or just flat out "no."
And this brings me to another point. Part of my job is to educate people on the 3 Rs of sustainability- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. By purchasing a used book, instead of a new one, I felt I was upholding the "Reuse" part of all of that. But, to put it bluntly, I got screwed. I tried to save money, I tried to do the right thing ecologically, and I was smacked for it.
What does that say about the sustainability movement? To me it says "We'll pay you lip service, but we're not going to cut into our profits to save the environment or anything else."
Richard Branson quoted Gro Brundtland (the first female PM of Norway, and one of The Elders) recently, while at the Rio+20 Summit:
“We must break away from our sectoral ways of viewing economy and
ecology. We must learn to accept the fact that environmental
considerations and economic growth are parts of a unified management of
our planet. The one is dependent on the other.”
I'm pretty sure what I experienced today was the opposite of what Brundtland has been advocating. And that's a problem.
Richard Branson and Gro Brundtland at the Rio+20 Summit.
June, 2012
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