THE MARKET WORKS
Even for textbooks.
On average, students will spend $817 on textbooks this fall, a 3.7 percent increase over last year.
…More people are buying used books, too. Fifteen percent of books bought in the last half of 2003 were used, up from 10 percent the previous year…[T]he textbook landscape is changing as the options for buying them expand.
There really is no reason for books to be as expensive as they are. Professors and teachers could choose less expensive texts, thus driving down the costs for all. The chemistry class I’ll be teaching this fall will cost the parents $10 (or $30 if they purchase the optional examples books). But, I knew I was working with homeschoolers and intentionally tried to keep the costs down to a minimum.
5 Responses to “THE MARKET WORKS”
 Comment by Deviant July 25th, 2004 at 9:45 pm |
As a homeschooler, I stick with curriculum that works; it doesn’t have to be the newest releases. I don’t think some of the books I use have been up-dated in years. I like my boys to read older books. I’m always on the lookout for old books. In fact, I just ordered five Landmarks from the 1950’s, Reed’s Word Lessons, 1896 Complete Speller adapted for use in the Higher Primary, Intermediate and Grammar Grades. Seventy Lessons in Spelling – A Complete Collection of difficult common words, with Pronunciations and Definitions, 1899 and Selections from Irving’s Sketch Book, 1900. These were very inexpensive. Education doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars. $30.00 to have my children taught chemistry is a steal. |
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Comment by Tressa July 26th, 2004 at 7:57 am |
This doesn’t surprise me at all. My husband spent over $250 on his books for the summer semester and he only took 2 classes. He buys them all used, but charging $6.00 for a $4.00 paperback is robbery, in my opinion. We have looked into buying them used online at the different textbook sites, but when it all comes down to shipping and time involved you pretty much break even. |
 Comment by Kim July 26th, 2004 at 11:37 am |
I agree entirely. While teaching community college, I often adopted trade books rather than text books and used extensive handouts to reduce student costs. Here is a trade book on SAT Prep. published print-on-demand from material used in homeschooling sessions: abacus...m/sat/ Inexpensive alternatives do exist. |
 Comment by speedwell July 26th, 2004 at 1:02 pm |
K, you are my hero. (weeps quietly as she writes check for this quarter’s brand-new, just-revised art school books for the fiance) |
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Comment by book artist August 1st, 2004 at 11:06 am |
It seems to me that a lot of money could be saved if people were will to pay for study books in the form of PDF files on CD or downloaded from an authors website. |