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alexseanchai posting in

actyourwage

Is this an appropriate place to rant about college textbook prices? Particularly when the textbooks are (1) rented (2) ebooks (3) that I already have in dead-tree format?

That's $180 I have no choice but to put on the credit card I just paid $300 to. So much for paying off that card on payday next. (Which happens to be my birthday. Happy fucking birthday, Ellie.)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aedifica

Yeesh. Yeah, I got so spoiled last semester--the textbook was available online *free*! I got so used to not having to lug hardcopy around... (I think I found a way to get next semester's textbook as an ebook, but not free. Alas.)

From:

alexseanchai

It's an online course, so. But I already OWN THE DAMN BOOK. Why do I need to rent the damn book?

From:

aedifica

Why *do* you need to? Is it a requirement for the course?

From:

highlyeccentric

Ugh, that sounds ridiculous.

But. Consider: you are still $180 lower in debt -than you would have been if you hadn't paid any of it off-.

From:

alexseanchai

Having access to a digital copy of the book (and the activity books, but them I'm not complaining about as loud because them I didn't already have) is a course requirement. Had I bought the dead-tree book through the campus bookstore instead of through B&N, where it was cheaper, I would have the book key that would allow me access to the digital copy. I swear the universe conspires against me.

From:

alexseanchai

True.

Nice icon.

From:

elf

You could... potentially scan it yourself? Or look for a copy someone else has already scanned?

I don't have a lot of sympathy for publishers or professors who think that it's reasonable to require near $200 for short-term use of *content one already owns.* (It sounds like you've already paid for this one, so it's a rather moot point. But if it happens again--there are possibly other solutions. "Scan it yourself" is somewhat time-consuming but sometimes the more reasonable answer. And besides, then you get a permanent PDF, and if you OCR it, the ability to copy & paste text.)

From:

florahart

I assume your institution's library and any consortia to which it belongs don't have an e-copy? Also, that's a requirement that I would bring to administration and explain why enforcing a particular format for learning is crap and is in opposition to accessibility and stuff.

From:

alexseanchai

...I did not think of that. I should have thought of that. (Too late now, in any event, but.)

No, no copy in the library.

From:

alexseanchai

I don't think 'scan it myself' would get me access to the online content. Also I'm not sure that's legal.

From:

elf

As far as we (ebook fanatics) have been able to figure out, "scan it yourself" is legal for personal use in the US; it's format-shifting, like copying a CD to MP3. (In the UK, it's definitely not legal; copying for personal use is limited to a specific percentage of the original.)

"Scan it yourself" won't get you access to specific online content; it'd just be a digital copy suitable for searching & copy/paste. And there's a special place in hell for professors & publishers who think everyone attending college should use specific online resources tied to DRM, because most of them aren't accessible to a lot of people with disabilities, and when they are, they're several times more hassle than they need to be.

I'm sorry you got stuck with extra fees :(

From:

yohjideranged

I have an issue with a professor that required a book that he wrote for a class that he is teaching. And you couldn't get it used or rented because it is a new edition - a $120 new edition.

It feels like he is forcing me to contribute to his residuals and I don't really appreciate that. But there is no way around it and no policy against it.

From:

jamethiel

That really sucks, bb. Just keep on going on the paying off debt. We all have setbacks, and you just keep on chugging. You'll get there eventually.

From:

alexseanchai

Yeah. I know. It's just the 'the universe is conspiring against me' feeling, you know?

From:

jamethiel

Yeah D: When I paid off my debt the first time, it took months and months and MONTHS and I wasn't seeing any progress and because I had no savings, I had to do stuff like put necessary work clothes back on the credit card. It really, really sucks.

I personally have a spreadsheet where I historically track debt and debt levels and do charts and stuff. Recently, I had a blowout on the credit card and was all :( but when I look at where it was when I STARTED, I'm still $1,500 better off than when my debt was at its worse. Would that help, to look at it long-term from when you decided to start paying it off?

From:

alexseanchai

Yeeeaahh...my parents are paying my tuition, and they expect me to pay them back, and tuition payments keep coming due, so I'm -$bignumber better off than I was when I decided to whack down the debt. And I turn twenty-three Friday, which means I get kicked off Dad's Tricare, which means I have to fork over $200 a month for Tricare Young Adult and I need to get a move on with new dental insurance because the Tricare-affiliated provider only exists in this area with the Tricare affiliation and TYA doesn't count. *sigh* THE UNIVERSE, IT IS CONSPIRING AGAINST ME.