Students Find $100 Textbooks Cost $50, Purchased Overseas

New York Times ^ | October 21, 2003 | TAMAR LEWIN

[riverrunner]

Yes the power of the web . The book sellers could once hide behind distance now they no longer can. As with many things the web as opened up many new ways.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Book prices are outrageous!

[Jim Noble]

Book prices are outrageous, but college book prices are beyond belief,and medical school book prices are stratospheric.

Good for these entrepreneurs!

[blam]

Sounds like the American consumer is off-setting the cost of education in foreign countries just like we do on drugs.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, the text books.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

More posts

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The consumer will look for the lowest price.

[Jonah Hex]

Y'right on that!. Instead of waiting to purchase a Terry Pratchett novel months after it was published in Britian, I now order it direct from Bol.com. At the present exchange rates, no VAT tax, and rapid shipping, it's a real alternative to the local Barnes and Noble.

[Fresh Wind]

Not only do they overcharge for the books, but they change the book selection frequently to prevent students from selling the books to each other. So, in most cases, you are stuck with an overpriced tome that you will never, ever open again in your life.

[Puddleglum]

It's a racket and you can bet there are folks getting tons of money by "recommending" which books get used in their classrooms, etc. Middlemen getting fat at the expense of the college kids. College students - and their parents - are a captive audience getting gouged left and right.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

So, in most cases, you are stuck with an overpriced tome that you will never, ever open again in your life.

Or the bookstores won't buy them back because, guess what? A new one is being used for the course.

Another tidbit about education and books.

Historic battles - history vs social studies - Who interprets?***At the same time, educators of all stripes worry that history textbooks have been "glitzed up and dumbed down," says Priscilla Linden, who teaches social-studies education at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa. "All the effort has been to get kids' attention. Now it's gone to the other extreme - you can't find the message."

Textbook publishers have tried to draw students in with anecdotes and asides, which makes it harder to find the substance. Even more startling, educators say, is that sometimes a classroom teacher has to consult another textbook or source to get the full story of an event.

Most troubling to historians like Fitzhugh is the notion that children are interested only in things that speak to their own experience. ***

[Lazamataz]

Heads up!

[TankerKC]

"We couldn't understand why what costs $120 here should cost $50-something there..."

Then they should take an economics course.

[Lizavetta]

In Britain, though, the cost of tuition is largely borne by the government

No, it is borne by the gouged British taxpayer.

... and students pay much less.

..until they graduate and become gouged British taxpayers, so they wind up paying for that low-tuition education for the rest of their stinkin' lives.

Yet another article that capitalizes on the fact that most people don't know the TANSTAAFL truism.....there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

[Commiewatcher]

"So, in most cases, you are stuck with an overpriced tome that you will never, ever open again in your life."

You might never open it a first time. As a frosh back in '64 they would give you a list of what to buy only to find out that the prof you got didn't want you to use that text anyway and you had to buy yet something else. Of course the bookstore would gladly take the book back for 10% of what you paid for it, even if it was still encased and unopened. Didn't make that mistake again in subsequent years.

[HiTech RedNeck]

My guess is that textbook publishers will seek to thwart this by presenting the same information in "rearranged" ways in different countries' English language editions, making the overseas books more difficult to synchronize to American instruction. E.g. rearrange chapters where the information is relatively independent from chapter to chapter, and regroup chapters in different clumps where it is important that the knowledge set progress as the book progresses. Modern XML formats would make this almost trivial.

[Poohbah]

Gosh, when foreign nations do this with steel or minivans or what-have-you, it's called "dumping" and the usual suspects hyperventilate over it.

[Allan]

Students Find $100 Textbooks Cost $50

What's with this $50?
Many standard textbooks and computer manuals
sell for $10 or less in India.

[mtbopfuyn]

I rarely paid full price for a text. Got them used. The problem with ordering texts from overseas is they may not get here in time or some other mix up. College book stores know this and won't be bringing their prices down.