With textbooks being required for many courses across many semesters, the number of books you use a handful of times racks up. Other resources such as libraries can be helpful to any student looking for a more cost-efficient solution.
Libraries are one of the most important establishments, as they stock books, digital media, DVDs and rentable laptops all for the community for free. The Cedar Rapids Downtown Public Library does not carry textbooks for students, which I think would be an admirable addition. Ideally, Kirkwood, among other colleges, would partner with local libraries to store any textbook, and professors would be able to direct us to those libraries.
Colleges want to make a profit, and textbooks are a way for them to do that. However, if I’m paying thousands of dollars for tuition, mandatory textbooks should be covered by that. Sometimes, they are; most often, they are not. Instead, we use each other’s accounts to read and share one digital textbook. I have a number of books that already take up space on my shelves, so it’s nice I have places to which I may return textbooks.
They lose importance after the course ends and would only add unnecessary weight to my backpack or use up the little space I have on my bookshelf. In this economy, money causes anxiety and overthinking.
With borrowing books, it doesn’t matter if the textbook ends up being outdated or mentioned more times in the curriculum than it is in class.
Unfortunately, money makes the world go around. The professors who have students buy $50 e-textbooks might think they are helping the student, but that $50 for food, gas or their dear friend’s birthday dinner can be extremely important. When it comes to borrowing, the student wins and gets opportunity for a very low cost.
Categories: Opinion
