You’ve heard of Big Pharma, but have you heard about what Big Textbook is doing to college students? The start of the school year is supposed to be fun. Everyone is coming back to town, the football season is starting, Greek Row is buzzing, but I have to worry about getting my textbooks. Nothing says “welcome back” like hundreds of dollars in book fees. I finally got the hang of the 15% incline to campus and now I have to fit $400 worth of book fees into my budget.

I am never going to need the book again, yet I have to buy a brand new, 14th edition $90 textbook that is required for the course. Each class requires a different bundle, access code and the newest edition. Whether that’s the greed from publishers, or professors think that the information is groundbreaking, textbooks and online applications throw people through too many obstacles. It should not be that hard, and that expensive. 

Textbooks are the academic version of fast fashion. Think about it, every year publishers make new editions to the slightly changed book, wrap it in plastic, ship it, and then it goes to waste a semester later. 

On top of tuition and the cost of living, I hope one day universities can recognize the environmental damages of mass producing new editions of textbooks people can’t even afford. 

You can try to go the easy route like buying a used book or looking for the online version, but in this economy, it seems that there is not an affordable option out there. When students can’t afford materials, they cut corners like sharing books with friends, reading old editions or even skipping readings altogether. This does not help the academic environment. 

This goes beyond the cost of a book. We all need to acknowledge that the bigger shift has to come from recognizing the textbook industry is broken. It should be easy to purchase an affordable textbook and  pass it on to the next person, Knowledge should not have a paywall.