[12.02] Spring Enrollment, and How to Cheat Textbook Prices

My Spring Semester Enrollment

So I'm finally enrolled in the spring semester at my city college here in California, place of my birth and where I've always lived. This will be my third semester at the city college, summer semester excluded, which has me excited as I near the expected mid-point in my city college career. It's all uphill from here, though, as I strive to complete all required classes, and I will eventually have to take classes that don't quite fit my plans due to time constraints.

I can't complain, though -- it's absolutely wonderful where I live and go to school. The weather is temperate, the beach is close, and of course, the woman are gorgeous! Can't argue with a campus like that, if you ask me, though their library could use a few modern and/or interesting books. You get what you pay for, I suppose! After all, I chose the cheaper city college route on my way to a transfer -- taking three cheap years of city college to mollify and mitigate the damages that the four-year bill will do to me, especially in this economy!

If all goes according to plan (and, please, I hope I didn't jinx it there!) then I should be well on my way to transferring into the awesome Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) as a junior, two years ahead of those students who start their college careers in university (thus magically making those two years of university bills vanish!). Hopefully the teachers this semester won't be a bunch of hardasses, haha (looking at you, my Spring '11 Accounting teacher), though from word of mouth most of them seem to be fine.

At any rate, we shall see when January approaches, bringing with it the start of the semester and my birthday (which is also, unfortunately, when I have sociology in the evening). Maybe I'll go, who knows? Depends on what comes up. ;P Keep an eye out for a post sometime in the next week on ways to find out in advance what your teacher or professor is like, it'll be a good one!

Now, how to cheat your textbook prices...

How to Slash Your Textbook Prices

I know we students say it all the time, but I'm afraid it still needs to be said again: textbooks just cost way too much. It's absolutely ridiculous, and not I nor my peers can fathom in the slightest the cause for such a perversity. Yeah, I know I said in that some complicated words, but stay with me here: No one has a damn clue as to why they are pulling a stunt like this! After all, they're just books.

Now, I've heard a lot of stuff from the (few) proponents of textbook prices, such as it supports the world of academia in all of its regards (excepting, of course, the poor students who cannot afford it), and that the research involved in many of these books takes many, many years to pull together. According to their logic, we're getting a bargain!

Well, let me let you in on a little secret: charging us several hundred dollars for many of these books is not feasible for many people. There's always financial aid, of course, but the system at many colleges is convoluted and stressful, not to mention impossible for some! I've personally known several people who, even after being approved, cannot get their money. Some people don't qualify because their parents are wealthy in some respect -- but they certainly are not. Textbooks are sometimes the biggest fees for students, because even after classes are paid, buying textbooks still takes from your financial aid money, the lifeblood of many students.

I understand many people (even those in the righteous pursuit of scientific knowledge and knowledge disbursement) require money as a motivator. That's perfectly reasonable. However, taking up this particular job is a hard prospect, as the work will always take much work and time to be quality, thanks to the nature of the work. Sure, they deserve their pay -- but do they really need to make that much?

Of course, there is always the publisher, the school, and the bookstore; all out to make their own profit. The writer sells (symbolically) each copy over at perhaps $30 to $40 a copy to the publisher, pocketing the money after much hard work. Then, the publisher sells them to the school for perhaps $80 to $100 a copy, well over doubling the price they received the books for (and pocketing the profit). The school throws on another $20 or $30 to pocket for each copy, bringing the total so far to $100 to $130 per copy.

Finally, to put the icing on this giant rip-off cake, the school decides that to pay for campus bookstore costs (including that of the employees' wages, with a bit left to pump back into the school to ease the strain on their own paychecks), they top it all off with another $20 or $30, effectively putting the grand total at perhaps $120 to $150 a book, to the students. Now, isn't that outrageous?

I have some secrets for you, then, young freshman. What if you could cut out these middlemen in your scholarly quest for a proper education without breaking your budget? Well, you can. There's a few great ways to make yourself a richer (wo)man, simply by taking a couple of steps in the right financial direction. Take up some of the options below (as many as you'd like, if you can do it!) to save yourself precious cash.

• Utilize the Library Reserve: The libraries at most schools will have a section for checking out reserved copies of textbooks, usually to provide an alternative to those desperate students who cannot afford, or cannot be bothered, to buy textbooks at all. Though you cannot take them out of the library, and they are a hassle to get over and over, you can spend some quality time with the copy machine making duplicates of the pages. Make sure to keep them in order as they print, and when you take them away, and only get what you need for the week or the month at a time. Few things at the campus will make you more despised than taking up precious copier time.
• Counter-ripoff the Store: Some textbook stores will never notice it if you just go in and read a chapter or two of your textbook, as you'll look like you're simply browsing. So long as you stay out of sight, out of mind, you should be good. Remember, some store owners will be watching for your kind, so don't make it too obvious, and read fast! If it's possible, and not shrink-wrapped, you could abuse the return policy by bringing the book back when you're done with it if you only needed it for a week or two (depending on the return policy).
• Get it From the Internet: If all you need is a few bits and pieces of the book, then there will likely be a copy of that portion on the internet for public viewing. Though I cannot officially advocate piracy of textbooks in the case some moron would point me out as pushing illegal activity, there are many sites that you can find a full copy of the textbook on, in e-book form. Just remember that those sites are riddled with viruses and scams, and that you should be wise with how you utilize the information I just gave. Don't get into some trouble, I'd hate that.
• Get it for Damn Near Free: The people over at CollegeTimes have a great article that contributed much of the inspiration for this post, and I'd like to quote their article for this section:

1. Rent your textbooks on websites like Bookrenter.com for a fraction of the normal price (free shipping by UPS)
2. Search for digital versions (PDFs) of your public-domain textbooks on TextBook Revolution or TextBook Media or PDF SE
3. Find a friend or classmate who wants to share the price of a book (great excuse for study sessions with that cute girl next to you)
4. Don’t buy a book until you are absolutely sure during your semester that you need it (a.k.a. textbook gambling)
5. Ask your professor or T.A. if they have an extra copy of a certain book (don’t try this more than once if you want an A)
6. There seem to be textbook torrents at FreeTextbooks.com but I’m not sure how many are legally distributed…

-CollegeTimes, 5 Ways To Get Your College Textbooks For Free

• Don't Get a Book You Don't Need: If you are having trouble affording books, then there's no reason you should ever be buying a book just because it might help you. Ask your teacher or professor at the beginning of the semester if it's absolutely necessary to get the book if you want to pass the class; if they have doubts, or answer no altogether, then you might rethink getting that book and using money you could have saved. Even if a teacher/professor says it is required, do a little brainwork yourself and see if you can't get away without it.
• Look For Online Trial Versions: No lie, some publishers cut out the middlemen by putting the textbooks online, and then they really short themselves by making trial editions available. All you need is an e-mail address, and they'll let you use the whole book online. As far as I know, you can keep putting in a different e-mail to get different trial editions, and continue abusing this defect until you're done with the semester. I have done this one before myself.

Good luck with your textbook shopping, fellow college-goers, and be smart with your money!

[11.28] This is me

I didn't need to deliberate too long on the title of this post; it seemed fairly straightforward, as I, myself, am much of the time (a problematic trait when exposed to most people, I assure you). I find it only appropriate that I start my very first post with a bit of information about me, so that you might understand where I come from a little better, and thus be more available to appreciate what I have to say.

By nature, I am a writer. I am many other things (a self-supposed jack-of-all-trades), but one of the foremost things I am is a writer. I write down things because they're important. I write down things because they're unimportant. I write down things for the sake of writing things down, because that's what I do. It's like a piece of me is permanently geared towards writing, and that unless I fulfill the urges of the golem of writing within me, I will explode into a mess of words. Perhaps that is a bit dramatic, but have not writers always had a sense for such?

In any case, I also consider myself an academic, but not in the usual cases most modern academics are considered. I do not enjoy much of the educational system (at least, not here in California, my home state and current residence). As Samuel L. Clemens, better known as his pseudonym Mark Twain, famously said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." This could not more accurately capture the essence of what I believe about public school.

So then, if I despise the system so much, why do I write about it on a blog? The answer is simple: I do not despise the system at all. In fact, I am quite the proponent of an educational system, whether it be to construct a school or teach a teacher. I just believe we have been doing it largely incorrectly thus far. There are considerable paths to diverge on in the current system that would better serve the entire U.S. nation.

Even more importantly is that I choose to, largely, write about academia in a sense much more powerful than that of simple public school; in fact, public school will likely be the least of my worries, if any at all. University, research, academic studies -- these are my topics, my center of focus. Around them will my posts be built, among various other subjects.

So, sit down, grab a drink, and enjoy what I hold in store for you here at The Life Academia.