By Lisanne Cheizoo
Business Manager
It happens every time: at the start of the semester, the Facebook page of the UCR book bazaar overflows with people buying and selling books, questions about the right editions and inquiries about the cheapest (and fastest) way to get your books. Whoever visits De Drvkkery regularly in this period, will notice bookshelves full of brand new college titles slowly appearing in the store.
Unfortunately though, there is another aspect of this phenomenon. Amidst the buzz and the negotiations, there also seems to be a vast group of students complaining about the prices of the books we have to buy. Even though I agree that our living expenses are steadily increasing, it amazes me that some people deem it necessary to economize on the new books we have to order.
It is true: college books are expensive. When you are a student and have to manage your own finances, everything seems to be twice as expensive as it used to be. With a limited budget, you have to choose what to spend your money on and not buying books seems to be an easy and quick gain. However, we have the privilege to be able to study at a university like UCR. Why are we economizing on the very thing that enables us to study?
Every semester, our professors choose the books that are most suitable for the upcoming courses and these are the books that end up on our booklist. It is the publisher, not the bookstore or the professor, who sets the prices for the books. Yet, some of us seem to think this price is still too high for certain books. Where does this assumption come from? Who of us has enough knowledge about the different books in any given field to be able to state that paying 80 euros for a certain book is ‘too much’?
Who are we, as undergraduate students, to judge these books based on the price? How do we know if a book is indeed not sufficient for the course we are taking? It is as if instead of judging a book by its cover, we are judging a book by its price. All of our professors are capable to decide on which book to buy. The college books will guide us through our courses; they are, in a way, helping us set out our future. So maybe it would be better to see books as an investment in our future, instead of another assault on our bank accounts.
In general, money seems to be the main problem here. I understand that we are only students and cannot afford to spend too much money. It is, however, our education we are talking about. Why are we economizing on something we need in order to study? Books (in general, not only college books) are an investment in our future. On top of that, our professors carefully select the college books. You need books to study, and books cost money. Complaining about this fact will not further your cause. So next time that you have to buy your books, do not moan about the price. It is the price you pay to study, an investment for a better future.
Lisanne Cheizoo, class of 2015, is a Literature and Theatre & Media Studies major from Uden, the Netherlands.
I think people should decide for themselves whether to economize on books – if they don’t buy the books at all, they surely will see the negative consequences (lower grades). If they find a way to get the same books for a lower price than the Drvkkery offers – good for them!