Textbooks: To buy or not to buy?

As the spring semester begins to wrap up, many students are experiencing the typical registration melodrama and rushing to get signed into classes and make sure they are on course to graduate.  In the next few months, professors will update the bookstore on what to order, and students will return from summer vacation to foot the bill on overpriced textbooks for another semester. 

In some courses, however, professors have switched from textbooks to course packets, or opted for different types of literature instead of heavy, 400-page textbooks, of which about 100 pages will actually be used for class.  For four years now I have done my time at the bookstore, searching through the aisles for textbooks, literature and novels, avoiding the price tags and opting for one, solid sting at the cash register.  At the most I've paid about $400 for one semester's worth of books, and at the lowest about $125.  In addition to tuition, room and board, lab fees, gym fees and mandatory insurance fees, going to school — even on scholarship — can be a lot for families to handle, and I am well aware that there are students paying nearly $1,000 for books, depending on the subject. 

While for some majors the entire textbook is necessary, there are those that require expensive books that are rarely used.  Students attempt to get around spending money on books by waiting for the first day of class to evaluate whether or not they should actually buy the books, or share books between friends and classmates, or buy the book and return it after the three-day return period after they've made copies of the sections that will actually be needed. 

As an alternative, I suggest professors find ways to save their students money.  In general, most textbooks are dry.  Also, many students don't read the assigned pages, even if they bought the book, mainly because examples in books are more difficult to swallow than an actual lesson.  In some of my classes, professors have assigned actual literature instead of textbooks, which offers a more interesting perspective and different way of teaching the material. 

In my religion class this semester, our professor made a packet for everyone in the class, of his writings, the syllabus, homework assignments and paper topics, instead of asking the class to buy a textbook.  Of course, with these course packets come supplementary books, but most literature or novel-style books can be purchased for a few dollars new, or even fewer dollars used. 

While some professors will always opt for the expensive textbook, they could still help students out by using the same edition for a few years, so students can sell the books back or to students taking that class during another semester. 

Understandably, it isn't possible for all professors in all subjects to cut down their textbook use, but for those who don't use their required textbooks often; help a student out.  Create course packets, use interesting literature to teach boring material, and keep in mind that at one point, you were a student too.