2008 Woodie Awards
Stop blaming Sundance for high textbook costs
Jacob Kriss
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Opinion
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Another semester is underway at Geneseo, and this can only mean one thing. Well, I suppose it could actually mean a great number of things, but in this particular instance it is that oh-so-familiar conversation that so many people have with their friends when leaving Sundance Books. From the other side of campus you can almost hear the grumblings of students with a heavy paper bag under their arms. Two hundred dollars, $300, $400…
It is truly an unfortunate situation that college students, who generally have the least ability of any demographic to pay the huge amounts that textbooks often cost, are forced to burden such a massive additional weight every semester. However, what is also unfortunate is that right along with complaints about the prices are the attacks leveled at Sundance.
The accusations that I often hear portray the owners as tie-dye wearing swindlers with a colossal clandestine scheme to milk the pockets of Geneseo's poor student population, draining our every last hard-earned cent into a massive peace-sign shaped coffer that they keep in the basement.
Let's face it folks: this just isn't the case. Sundance Books charges retail price for the new books that they sell. The receipt that you get when you walk out the door doesn't show the 200 percent markup that so many students have somehow managed to convince themselves that Sundance has secretly put into place; it just shows the price that the publishers have decided to stamp on the back of the book.
Granted, I'm not at all saying that I think these prices are fair. Textbooks are massively expensive, usually priced far higher than they should be, but we can't blame Sundance for a person's advanced biology book that costs $125. Publishers generally say that these costs are a reflection of the high price of producing textbooks, but let's look at reality. They make their profits off of the often unnecessary new editions of many books that they introduce almost every year of, along with the supplementary materials like study guides and CDs that often students don't need, want or use.
It is truly an unfortunate situation that college students, who generally have the least ability of any demographic to pay the huge amounts that textbooks often cost, are forced to burden such a massive additional weight every semester. However, what is also unfortunate is that right along with complaints about the prices are the attacks leveled at Sundance.
The accusations that I often hear portray the owners as tie-dye wearing swindlers with a colossal clandestine scheme to milk the pockets of Geneseo's poor student population, draining our every last hard-earned cent into a massive peace-sign shaped coffer that they keep in the basement.
Let's face it folks: this just isn't the case. Sundance Books charges retail price for the new books that they sell. The receipt that you get when you walk out the door doesn't show the 200 percent markup that so many students have somehow managed to convince themselves that Sundance has secretly put into place; it just shows the price that the publishers have decided to stamp on the back of the book.
Granted, I'm not at all saying that I think these prices are fair. Textbooks are massively expensive, usually priced far higher than they should be, but we can't blame Sundance for a person's advanced biology book that costs $125. Publishers generally say that these costs are a reflection of the high price of producing textbooks, but let's look at reality. They make their profits off of the often unnecessary new editions of many books that they introduce almost every year of, along with the supplementary materials like study guides and CDs that often students don't need, want or use.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
John K GSU '75
posted 2/16/07 @ 1:09 AM EST
For what it is worth, I was told many years ago by a professor, who was also a lifelong friend, that the main reason that textbooks are constantly changed is that it is a form of "payola" aka "kickback" system to a certain extent. (Continued…)
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