A textbook dilemma

A good education might be priceless, but there is a limit to the value of a textbook, especially in the Information Age.

I purchased almost all of my textbooks in their newest editions this semester. It cost me nearly $800, more than I had spent on books in four semesters combined at Columbia. In my first class, I mentioned the cost as an aside to the girl sitting to my left. “Just wait until you try to sell them back,” she laughed. “You’ll be lucky to get $30.”

Buying the newest editions of most textbooks makes no sense, except to help out struggling publishers and professors. In high school, the school districts supplied textbooks for free; students rented the book for a semester, returning it at the end when the material had been learned. In college, students have somehow evolved into cash cows, expected by professors to cough up nearly a grand a semester for books.

When I first came to Columbia, I spent some time trying to get textbooks on the cheap. It was no secret that international editions of books worth hundreds of dollars sell for nothing on the Internet, or that PDFs of various books can be pirated like popular music. By borrowing the newest edition of textbooks from libraries or friends, I was able to find the problems I needed for homework, while using older, international, or electronic editions of the books to grab content.

But my system was exasperating and morally ambiguous. Running between libraries and calling friends at all hours of the night clawed at my nerves. Taking books from the internet felt like stealing. What I saved in cash I lost in sanity. This semester, I decided to try using Amazon and the Columbia University Bookstore. I got my books, but emptied my wallet in the process.

If Columbia, like any public high school, purchased required textbooks for its classes and lent them to students, it might protect the students from the high costs of new-edition textbooks. Even if that were too much, students could still cut costs by knowing which books they would need far ahead of time, as discovered by a University of Michigan task force. With enough prior knowledge, they could shop smartly using online resources. Last spring, this idea was addressed by the Student Senate, which passed a resolution requiring professors to inform students ahead of time about which textbooks and editions would be required. Still, nothing much has been done to act on that resolution. Most students still wait for classes to start to find out which books they must buy. As books do not change that often from semester to semester, it might be wise to compile a database of textbooks from past years. In addition, students would benefit if professors posted required books to a public list a few weeks before the start of classes.

A good textbook rental system would also help. Senator Chuck Schumer offered such a system in his Affordable Books for College Act in 2005, which was later added to the Higher Education Opportunity Actin 2008. Columbia, however, does not take part in Schumer’s Course Material Rental Pilot Program, which would help students save hundreds by renting books. Students who want to rent books must now look towards websites like Chegg.com, which charge a bundle without leaving the student any equity. If a good rental system were set up at Columbia, either by taking part in Senator Schumer’s pilot program or by working to create a good peer-to-peer system, it would greatly help the students at Columbia.

We need to change the way Columbia students deal with textbooks. With the help of the tech community and the administration, certain simple systems like a database of textbooks from past classes and a peer-to-peer rental network could be put in place, helping students take control of their education.

Akiva Bamberger is a Columbia College junior majoring in computer science and mathematics with a pre-medical concentration. He is president of the Association for Computing Machinery. Bits and Pieces runs alternate Wednesdays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com