Muleskinner

Issue date: 9/7/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Garrick Hodge Rising Prices - As textbook prices go up, students feel their pockets shrinking.

One major problem for students attending college is the extra costs. Along with tuition and housing, the costs of books are a major expense to students.

According to The College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2005," the average student at a four -year public college, like CMSU, paid $994 in books and supplies during the 2005-2006 school year. At a two-year public college the average student spends $901 a year, and at a four- year private institution, students spend $904.

On the University Web site there is a cost calculator that assists students in estimating cost of attending CMSU. The cost calculator suggests that books will cost, on average, $200 per semester. However, on the Banner system under "financial aid status" after the log-in page, you will see a "cost of attendance" link. Under "cost of attendance" the cost of books are said to be $500 year. Also, the print at the top of that screen reads: "Please realize that the following total does not reflect the exact cost you'll personally incur to attend CMSU … your total expenses will almost always be much lower."

At CMSU, students feel like they spend a lot on books, just like many other colleges. For some of the basic classes required at CMSU the bookstore prices of textbooks can be expensive.

General education courses such as College Algebra, English Comp. I and II, Public Speaking, and English Literature, are priced from $128 about $64 for new editions at the University Store. The used books for those classes range from $96 to $48.

There are many alternatives to the bookstore's prices. The biggest sources of textbooks are Web sites. Sites such as Half.com and Amazon.com have new and used books for well under the bookstore prices. Half.com listed the same general education books from $80.47 to $22.57 used. Amazon.com sells new books at a higher price than the bookstore, but the used book costs are still cheaper, ranging from $5.40 to $53.10 cheaper than bookstore prices.

Students believe that book prices are outrageously high.

"I personally believe that the school is making a killing off of books, and it's not fair," Eyob Tilahun, junior, said. "It's especially not fair to those who are struggling to pay for school to have to worry about if they are going to be able to afford the book for class."

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