Every semester Spartans, along with millions of other university students across the country, watch their minuscule bank accounts drain as textbook costs are tallied by bookstore cash registers. It's not a surprise college bookstores make Bonnie and Clyde look like a pair of innocent preschoolers.
But students shouldn't complain about their violated wallets - local bookstore managers told The State News that Spartans should be grateful Spring 2003 prices didn't increase more because of the struggling economy.
Well, pardon us if we don't feel so lucky while we grow weary of an alternating dinner menu of Ramen noodles and generic brands of macaroni and cheese. But we'll try to forgive book merchants for their inability to understand our lack of excitement when they give us just enough money to purchase a Big Mac when we sell our books back at the end of the semester.
The time is past due for students to resist the enchanting allure of free T-shirts and Tarot card readings and fight the hand that holds their finances down. Of course, a little help from professors would be more than welcome.
Granted, hard economic times are no excuse for mental sloth, but a little compassion when planning course layouts wouldn't hurt.
The tools are available. Web sites are up and word of mouth is a great means of communication. If more students and professors took the time to examine the numerous alternate book buying and selling avenues that exist, the institutions with a corner on the market could be circumvented.
Classmates can easily split the cost of $30-plus course packs by purchasing one and making copies. Students also could sell their used books for more and buy them for less if people took a few minutes to post ads on Web sites and in classrooms. It is nobler to give one's used books to fellow students for free than to sell it back to the corporate man for $1.50.
Students need to quit walking like zombies in and out of bookstores for the promise of a free slice of pizza, travel-size deodorant and a condom.
If they don't, a world where we pay merchants to take our books back might not be far away.
Picture it.
"OK, we'll give you $2.25 for 'How the Principles of Molecular Chemistry are Responsible for the Rise and Fall of Human History.' Of course, there will be a $3 reshelving fee for that.
"So, you owe us 75 cents."
Of course, if you really don't care, do nothing. Just continue on with business as usual.
But don't complain if you choose to continue being robbed. Life isn't fair and laziness isn't cheap.
