With the first full week of lectures and discussions coming to a close, it is not surprising that many students are already feeling stressed, particularly regarding all the money they've spent on textbooks. Many have saved their receipts, naively hoping December will bring a 50 percent return on the $300 or so they just spent on course materials. Yet what they may not know is that the majority of students attending a University of Wisconsin campus never experience the textbook angst we know all too well.
UW-Madison remains one of the few UW campuses still upholding a textbook system in which books are sold back for a much lower price than the original cost. For example, textbook rentals have been available to UW-Platteville students since 1866, according to Mary Larson of UW-Platteville's Textbook Center. Yet our university has been operating under its current system for well over 100 years despite various attempts to alter it. Furthermore, in spite of various options such as the University Book Store, the Underground Textbook Exchange or online shopping, our campus lacks a viable system to parallel the textbook rental programs provided by seven of the 13 UW campuses.
Perhaps a textbook rental seems like an idea only befit for a utopian society, but in reality, these systems have not only succeeded in alleviating stress on the student body, but have also sustained profitable bookstores for more than 140 years. Through accumulation of segregated fees attached to undergraduate tuition, bookstores are able to continuously supply textbooks to students as long as rental materials are returned. According to Terri Meinel, the bookstore director at UW-Whitewater, "the rental fee for a full-time student is $65.40 per semester. That averages to be less than $5.45 per credit."
It is absolutely nonsensical to continue to endorse the current system when cheaper options are readily available. Staging a textbook boycott would contradict common sense, as books are vital to academic endeavors, and students cannot wait without course materials until the system is changed. But the outrage of students must be voiced, or the overpricing of textbooks will continue.
Madison Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, understands the burdens of paying for the "criminally priced" textbooks. When asked about solutions to UW-Madison's predicament, Judge provided several valuable insights. First and foremost, bookstores are not completely to blame, as books must be bought at prices set by publishers. In fact, Judge claimed several bookstores he previously contacted were in favor of change. If UW-Madison enacted a textbook rental system, the money spent by students would drastically decrease, but the problem of inflated textbook prices coming from the publisher could remain unsolved. Judge, who is also a UW-Madison junior, believes as more students vocalize their disapproval, the issue will become more politically involved, and the state government will act to cap textbook prices set by publishers.
Even if state government interferes with publishers, the university's change to the system would have to be meticulous in order to accommodate 41,000 UW-Madison students. Though size seems a poor excuse, it is the most likely reason that smaller UW campuses have textbook rental systems and we do not.
Despite the multitude of students and the most expensive tuition in the UW System, we are still being held accountable for textbook charges. If this inequality continues, many students will not be able to afford a proper education, a result that is appalling and unacceptable.
Perhaps the precedent of paying several hundred dollars will simply remain another woe of the oft-exploited college student. But as prices spiral further and further out of control, the voice of the student body must be heard. Change must ensue before proper education becomes a luxury that only an elite minority can afford.
Rachel Krystek ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.
