why is college so expensive?
 

I just spent 705bucks on what amounts to this...

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l8...9-01100750.jpg

2 of which i just realized they didnt even ******* bind together :sl which were 160 apeice!!!

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Market forces. People want to go to college so that they can maximize their lifetime earning potential. Because this is so important to so many people, colleges and universities (as well as textbook publishers) can raise their "prices" (tuition, fees, etc.) with impunity, because they know that plenty of people will pay it. I'm glad I didn't go.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

The states regulate what the schools can charge for tuition, so the schools mark up the books 1000% to make budget. You cant take the class without the required materials.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Check out Chegg.com to see if they have those two textbooks at least. They usually don't have anything that's loose like the top three.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

It will be worth it in the end Devan. Trust me.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

that's what everyone told me when I graduated in 05 and I'm still waiting for that to come true. the only benefit to being in college now is that hopefully things will rebound before you graduate.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Devan were these new or used? I remember saving a sh!t ton on used books.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

half.com :tu

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

half new half used. the new ones weren't available used.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

What did you major in?

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Bummer :td

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Sorry to hear this. I guess I got lucky and graduated before the economy went to sh!t.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

+1 for chegg, I try to get all my books for things outside my major from them

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

abebooks.com is where i get mine.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

something useless from the liberal arts side of the house

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Im hoping a bachelors in Integrated Supply Management gets me somewhere. Im looking to get a masters in Logistics aswell. Ill need to get accepted to MSU's business graduate program for that though.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

is it the major you got not very useful towards most business jobs or something?

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Books.....the world's largest scam. It is crooked from every angle. New they rape you.
Buying your used "new" books, they treat them like they are useless and pay you accordingly.
For the next sucker, suddenly your old "useless" books are worth 80% of their original new cost. I can still
remember my Mom holding back the bile, tears and curses when she paid those bills. Thank goodness for
the little the USAF gave me.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

same here, i thought the 500 the GI gave me would be enough. guess not :gary

damn *****es...

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

My local paper had an article on a new twist on this now. Some colleges are requiring students to register for electronic copies of these books, instead of going the old hardback route. It's kind of like registering software, though--1 ID per student per enrolled class. The books are available in pdf or eReader format. Sounds cool & easy, right?

The bad news is that there is no price discount for the text, and once you activate the code, you can't transfer the e-copy. So, no reselling, no used book discount, etc. Seems like another scam.


Here's the link, it's more of an opinion piece but it kind of gets the point across:

http://www2.richmond.com/news/2011/j...ks-ar-1083940/

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Isn't your GI Bill paying for this? :D

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

thats the sad part, my 500 per semester for books didnt cover this. but yes its paying tuition and most of the dorm room.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I guess that is a bright spot then.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

yeah 9k per-semester is paid for

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

The more I read about the current state of American universities the more I'm convinced it's not much more than a ponzi scheme.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

My first semester I paid as much for books as for classes ($1500). The only reason it wasn't like that other semesters was they allowed us to use e books and CSU tuition went through the roof. My last semesters tuition cost me twice as much as my first semester! I graduated in December, but word is it went up another good chunk before spring semester.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

There were always a couple copies in the library for all of my classes. Couldn't check them out, but could go sit there and read for free or photocopy needed pages for a few cents/page.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Haha I feel your pain brotha, just spent 500 on my finance book

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

:tpd: ^^^ What he said.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I don't get why all college books, and high school books for that matter, aren't electronic. I mean Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440. Do you think after nearly 700 years we could move on to another form of media? Perhaps one that is free to distribute?

I'm not suggesting we do away with copyrights, just the bulk of the cost which is printing and distribution.

Logistics is a great way to go.

And Devan, there are jobs out there. I'm on my 3rd one (by choice) since I graduated in May of 2010 with a double major in Accounting & Finance. Don't let the economy scare you too much. Start applying for internships nice and early - that experience means the world.

EDIT: I just realized I didn't address your topic at all. It is a scam. I had one class where the professor wrote the book and it was "required". Such a rip.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Once the format becomes obsolete, the electricity goes out, the battery dies, you drop your reader, or whatever; then where are you? Books are already perfect the way they are, and require nothing else in order to read. All electronic media requires hardware, software and power support in order to function. A book requires only itself.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

yeah just getting out of the army and havent started school. So hopefully ill get an idea what kind of jobs to apply for threw this year of experience.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

My last semester they had just started offering most books in electronic forms. I got one book like that bc it was a ton cheaper, but I discovered I prefer to have a hard copy. Highlighting and flipping pages checking you're scribbled margin notes is a lot more effective, IMHO, on a hard copy than an electronic one.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

University is about learning how to learn and think which in turn increases your long term earning potential. Except for very specific fields like medicine, law, engineering, etc it's not (unfortunately) about going to school to get a job. It definitely pays off in the long run, especially given that an undergrad degree is no longer considered something special or unique by most professional employers. Not having one in those fields is like coming to the poker table without ante stakes... you don't get to join the game.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I'd like to see how much the professors and university administrators rake in every year in salaries...

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

For public institutions, you should be able to request a copy of the budget at the library. It should include a breakdown of salaries by name/department. I would imagine that it would be available both in print and electronic formats.

For private schools, well, good luck with that one.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Most of them don't make nearly as much as you seem to fear they do, with a full tenured professor at all but the fanciest schools topping out around $80K or so, with top administrators getting perhaps twice that on average. There are exceptions, on both sides of the curve.

In other words, your average educator earns in a year about what your average corporate scumbag steals in a week . . . or a good day. :r

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

This. For example I currently work as a senior IT admin in a public health authority (completely unrelated to my degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry btw), my father was a toxicology professor and my uncle-in-law a history prof.. both retired as full profs at the top of their institutions pay scales. 10 years into my career I make about $12K - $15K more than my uncle and about $5K less than my father, compared to wages at retirement in both cases. Academics is not a profession to choose if your career ambition is to become wealthy.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Try and pay that over here.....more like double the $$$$$ for that many!

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I would disagree with you. Salaries at public universities are available for some states per FOIA:

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/databases/salaries

Data here show that most of the administrators & many of the top faculty at even the "non-fancy" schools are raking in considerable salaries, not to mention state-provided benefit packages. Your state may vary, I just checked Virginia & NY schools as a basis.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I wish I had had access to a GI bill or something of the sort when I went to college straight out of high school. My grades weren't the best, so there were no schlarships available to me. Took me darn near ten years to pay off my loans. All on my own with very little help from my family. My dad told that if he had to pay for his education that I should too. I guess in the end it made me appreciate it that much more, but a little help would have been nice.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

College is a scam in general. They are all in collusion like insurance companies.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

you can misplace a book, you can get it wet, books become obsolete and are more expensive to change leading to fewer changes and they are all but unsearchable. Books are dead tech, it's time to move into another format.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

If you think college is expensive, you oughta see how expensive stupid is!!! :r

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I work at a Harvard teaching hospital, and believe me, college is no inoculation against stupid.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

You can misplace a reader, it can get wet, dropped, corrupted by a virus or destroyed by EMP. Books are indeed searchable; it's called an index. If you lose a book, it's one book; if you lose a reader, you lose all your "books". If you drop a reader, it's toast. I wonder how old the oldest surviving e-text is. The Dead Sea Scrolls are about 2000 years old. Does anybody expect any electronic text to survive that long?

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

I can count on one had the number of times I've damaged a piece of electiontics to the point they needed repaired, it's one, and the number of times I've lost one is never. I'm not going to argue this with you because there's no reason to. you like books and I prefer ereaders. not a big deal in the grand scheme of the board. have a good weekend mate.

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

Sometimes I swear it enhances it....

Re: why is college so expensive?
 

The eReader should have its data in a cloud so nothing is lost beyond the hardware itself.