Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Dear Editors,
Nothing in life is free; everything comes at a cost, whether it’s a car, a house or tuition and books at a state university. No one would be wrong to say that tuition is expensive, expensive against many comparable state schools and historically expensive when compared to inflation. It’s no secret books are expensive, maybe more expensive than they should be. However, if someone said that a professor at the university from both MIT and Rice University is little more than a talented baby-sitter, he would be insulting and wrong. Nobody wants to shell out several hundred dollars on textbooks that they don’t need, but to blame a professor for the cost of textbooks is like blaming the foreman on the assembly line at General Motors for a high-priced car. Besides, the textbook in question is optional, not mandatory, but for many, having more tools to succeed in the class is worth the added cost. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some students that never buy ANY books, and simply use the copies found in the library to do homework.
The source of our sticker shock for school can be found not with the professors in our classrooms and their textbooks designed to help the student study effectively (albeit at an added cost). No, the source of the high price of school is the Kansas Board of Regents, the chairman and the boardroom in the General Motors analogy. For all we do to complain and accuse good instructors of collaborating with the publishing industry to sell expensive books to students, we’ve neglected the fact that over $700 in campus fees is collected annually from every full time student on campus. We forget that the University collects course fees for taking classes in specific schools (many times taught by TA’s, not professors like in CHEM 184/188), or the fact that the board of regents decided to raise tuition 16 percent this year in exchange for the opportunity to lock in your “discount” for the next four years. Seems to me like good grades do come at a cost, and I’m not so sure the worst of it is a shrink wrapped textbook packaged with lecture notes.
Adam Vieux, Lawrence sophomore
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Comments
Letter to the Editor: Don’t blame books for college costs
I don't know, Adam. The cost of textbooks is certainly a variable and one that is hard to plan for until you have already enrolled in your classes. I know if I am enrolling in 15 hours, that my tuition and required fees will come to around $3300. However, depending on my courseload and what books are required (most books are required for classes... Very few are optional. Go walk around the bookstore and look at the "Required" and "Optional" labels...) AND couple that with the fact that I work every single day after class and most weekends, and don't want to spend any more time away from my own place (read: somewhere comfortable where I can turn on my stereo, cook up some Easy Mac, and do homework nude, which they don't allow in the libraries...) And it becomes obvious that you NEED to buy books. The question is, how much will it be? I use Half.com... It does help a lot. If I paid bookstore prices for my books this year, I'd have paid over $600 for all used books, or a hair under $750 for all new. I paid a bit under $400 on Half.com... Last semester, my books totaled $550.... I've had roomates who had $125 of books for a semester and friends who had $925. The fact that it is so variable makes it much harder to plan for than tuition and books. Which is why book costs are a huge pain. It certainly does not cost $119.00 for the bookstore to bring in a Math book to the campus. Nor does it cost $50. You have never worked retail if you honestly think they are ordering these things at $100+ a book... Seriously, if 800 kids enroll in a Biology class and the book costs $150, do you think the university just handed over $120,000 for 800 books? I bet not.
Letter to the Editor: Don’t blame books for college costs
It might not be a bad idea to check out tuition.ku.edu and do some homework on the tuition compact...its not a discount, never has been. It is just a way to make tuition more predictable, not a way to screw students over. And if you're upset with the campus fees and course fees, maybe you should get involved with student senate and urge other students to get involved too.
Letter to the Editor: Don’t blame books for college costs
I've read the tuition compact, and I agree tuition is more predictable (predictably 16% more than last year, 19% more than the year before, over 20% more than the year before that) and I have no problems with the school trying to make costs more predictable. The fact that they put in a 16% increase to cover it in its inagural year is what upsets me. As for the campus fees, I probably should be more involved, I have three kids presently and feel my three year degree plan is enough to juggle right now, and I'll continue to pay pretty much whatever the school wants to charge, and talk to senate members I associate with. As for the course fees, the student senate probably doesn't have a lot of control over it, for proof of that I'll direct you to a NY Times article about course fees that specifically mentions KU here http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/education/29tuition.html?ei=5088&en=d6560dce4b9604c3&ex=1343361600&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1185656389-YEIXczTsMtWICAjNP5i+cQ my opinion is that if the provost has mixed feelings about the school fees, and they are still in place, there probably isn't a whole lot anyone on campus can do to change the policy. I'll still pay them, I just wonder who can't afford it now. I'm not pretending to have all the answers either, the thrust of my arguement is simply that I really don't mind paying $140 for a chemistry book when I pay so much more just to go to school. Take it for what its worth, and I'll try to get more involved.
Adam
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