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In reply to the discussion: The ridiculously high price of college textbooks [View all]Orrex
(63,185 posts)12. I remember being outraged at having to buy new editions of Shakespeare each semester
These weren't new interpretations of his work; they were simply reformatted & reprinted, demanding fresh outlay of $50 to $75 for writings that hadn't really changed much since his death 400 years earlier. I was pretty steamed.
But then I learned about Calculus textbooks that cost hundreds of dollars and which likewise need to be bought new each semester. Now that's outrageous and offensive.
College as a whole is a disgusting machine for squeezing profits out of the students and their families. As a priority, actual education is a very distant second place, at best.
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A lot of those are either still quite expensive or designed to self-destruct anyway. (nt)
Posteritatis
Jan 2013
#38
except when there is a brand new must have that specific edition, and no used ones.
graham4anything
Jan 2013
#20
I know that I saved hundreds of $ buying used textbooks from Valore.com and Alibris.com
TheDebbieDee
Jan 2013
#11
I remember being outraged at having to buy new editions of Shakespeare each semester
Orrex
Jan 2013
#12
"What are you going to DO, suckers? You NEED this piece of paper to even get yer foot in the door!"
HughBeaumont
Jan 2013
#19
If your self-image depends on buying your way through *that* door, then you gotta pay the price.
lumberjack_jeff
Jan 2013
#25
Textbooks were always expensive, in inflation corrected dollars they've doubled in price but
HereSince1628
Jan 2013
#21
I hate the prices, but it occurs to me that for science and math texts, the proof-reading
hedgehog
Jan 2013
#28
The really expensive ones tend to be really specialised or those first-year survey textbooks
Posteritatis
Jan 2013
#40