College Textbooks: Rip-off!
In my newsletter the other day, I mentioned something about my experiences with University Book and Supply at the University of Northern Iowa - how they’d rip me off every single semester and I had no choice but to deal with it. George Spink had slightly different experiences:
I can’t even imagine paying for textbooks today, let alone going to college. My father died in January 1957, and my mother worked to support us. When it came time for me to go to college in September 1958, I was pretty much on my own. Fortunately, I had saved money throughout high school by working part-time jobs.
I did my undergraduate work in political science between 1958 and 1963, working a year between my sophomore and junior year so I could save money to transfer from UCSB to Northwestern University. I remember books cost me about $30-$45 per quarter at UCSB.
Because I was from Illinois, I paid out-of-state tuition to go to UCSB, a few hundred dollars a year. Northwestern’s tuition in 1961-1963 was much higher, $1,200 per year. I paid $400 for my first quarter and then received full-tuition scholarships for the remaining quarters I attended Northwestern. I used the money I had saved while working in 1960-1961, about $3,000, for my living expenses.I did a year of graduate work at Stanford between 1963 and 1964. It’s tuition was somewhat higher than Northwestern’s, $1,800 per year. Books ran about $45 to $60 per quarter at both schools. I always bought new books.
In the mid-1970s, I earned an M.B.A. with a specialization in finance from the University of Chicago. Tuition was $400 per quarter, or $3,600 per year. Books were about $100-$150 per quarter.
It is hard for me to believe that more than 30 years have passed since I earned my M.B.A in June 1976. Fortunately, I was always good in math and took almost enough classes as an undergraduate to major in it, but politics was my main interest during the Kennedy years. My math background helped me immensely at Chicago, because I specialized in finance, taking eight out of my 20 MBA courses in finance. The Chicago approach to finance was highly mathematical.
The University of Chicago was my idea of what graduate school should be like. I think about 75 percent of its students were graduate students, and I think that is about the same percentage today. Nerds was not a widely used term in the early 1970s, when I was a 30-something student there. But many U. of C. students would have been called that and would have been proud of it. They really wouldn’t have cared. The highpoint of every other year was always the Lascivious Costume Ball, where students wore anything they wanted. Several coeds usually showed up wearing peanut butter and nothing else.
After I received my M.B.A. in June 1976, I remained working at the University for three years. It was a great place to work. In 1979, I eventually succumbed to the lure of higher salaries in the private sector. I wish I would have remained at the University of Chicago.
What I remember most about the University of Chicago Bookstore had nothing at all to do with books. There was a small area of the store where you could order class rings, other school memorabilia, and have photos developed. On the wall behind the camera counter was a large portrait of Cybill Shepherd. She was in her 20s when the photo was taken and absolutely beautiful.
Looking back, I’m very glad I went to college - if only for the experiences and exposure. Higher institutions of learning will certainly be around for a while, although I must admit that I’ve learned more in life from “the Internet” than I ever did in the classroom.
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7 Comments
Dan
March 6th, 2007
at 6:56am
I would never trade my college experience for anything. Not because they taught me the skills that I would need to be successful in the world but because that is where I grew into the “real” me. It just seems like I went through high school trying to be someone I was not for the sake of popularity or because that was what was cool at the time. Social status was just way too important for me to look inside and take some chances.
Once I got to college and out from under my parents’ roof, it was a whole new ballgame. The freedom was really the key to setting me on my path.
I am always disappointed when I hear someone say that they are staying home to go to college. This is the time they should be spreading their wings!!
Rob Stevens
March 6th, 2007
at 8:25am
I’m about to finish my last year at the University of Washington, and so far my most expensive quarter for books has been $280. That’s in addition to the $1900 in tuition per quarter.
francine hardaway
March 6th, 2007
at 12:59pm
I’m an adjunct at Grand Canyon University and I ordered my daughter’s book on business bullshit “Why Businesspeople Speak like Idiots,”
, Scoble’s book, and “Never Eat Alone” for my course. That’s because they wouldn’t let me teach without using “textbooks.”
I wonder if the students will find those books any more useful than what they could find on the Internet. I also wonder whether my college education (same vintage as George’s, and Ivy League) would be as valuable today as it was then. Mostly it taught me to use the library and do research. Well…
annette
March 6th, 2007
at 1:48pm
Your post made me think. I must admit that I would not ever trade my college years. In the mid 80’s I attended SIU in southern IL (still here today). Granted the books were a rip off, but the other experiences I got through college life was something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. It made me who I am.
The field of technology has also made me who I am. I use pieces of technology through all aspects of my life. My powerwheelchair with a computer chip, my ventilator with a computer chip (which I do have to reset like a computer), and yes, the internet. I have got to network with people from all over the world and from different facets of life. Some folks with disabilities similar to mine, folks with geeky interests similar to mine, and just to learn about technology is a gift.
I do wish I would have had the ability to use technology in my college days like I do now. I must say that I have learned from real college and real internet experiences. Both have given me a balance of great knowledge.
Sara
March 6th, 2007
at 3:59pm
I’m another oldie-but-goodie. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) in 1961. As an out-of-stater I paid $600 per year tuition. In order to pay for it, I worked full time every summer(no “vacation” time for me). There was no such thing as a college loan and my parents made just a little bit too much money for me to qualify for financial aid. I also sold books at the University bookstore, where even back then we got ripped off. I remember selling books to the engineers at $20 per book - very expensive 50 years ago. I loved my college experience and I wish that everybody could share the wonders of higher education. However, if I had to do it today, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Kyle Eslick
March 6th, 2007
at 5:21pm
I grew up a few miles from the Northern Iowa University Book and Supply and my mother put herself through school at UNI by working there when she was in school.
I went back to Cedar Falls recently, where I grew up, to visit my parents and stopped in to get some UNI gear for game days and could not believe they prices they were charging. I thought maybe it was just the gear costs because the school was on a role in football and basketball, so I looked around, and sure enough, it was like that with text books and more.
I always bought used when going through college, and even though I still had to pay close to 75% of new price, which was ridiculous. Throw me in the hat as someone who feels he earned a lot more over the Internet than I did in college, but who goes to college to learn anyway?!? :)
Kyle
March 7th, 2007
at 11:29pm
From what I hear, half.com is great for buying cheap books for college. There are several sites aimed for cheaper college books. I intend on buying all of my books on sites like this in the fall of 07 (missed it this spring :(
)