Picture this: it's the beginning of the semester, you've just gotten your teachers' mandatory reading lists, and you're now on your way to the bookstore, dreading the final bookstore bill more than anything.
Why? Because it’s going to come to anywhere between $600 and $1,000 and maybe more.
You probably wonder why these crucial textbooks are so pricey. There are a number of reasons, and all of them make sense when you look into them (even if they might not feel very fair).
Professors don’t know
One reason why you have to buy such expensive books is that the professors asking you to purchase them have no idea of the price. They just know the information inside them is useful – perhaps vital.
If they did know how much they cost, would they still tell you to buy them? Probably.
Cost to Produce
Another reason for the cost is that they actually cost a great deal to produce. Think about it: unlike a standard book where small mistakes can be forgiven, and they don’t mean a lot, mistakes in textbooks can cause massive problems. So they have to be checked, checked, and checked again to make sure they’re right, and that costs money.
Plus, they’re big books, often full of images, and that’s not cheap to produce either.
Constant changes
Finally, they’re always being updated. So if you want the most up-to-date information, you ‘have’ to buy the most up-to-date version (even though sometimes, only one thing has changed, and it won’t actually affect you).
That’s why it’s important to know what your options are. Read on to find out more.
