When you can't afford to go buy the book

The L.A.Times reports:

College student Rob Christensen has tried nearly every trick in the book to save money on the books.

Last year, Christensen said, he borrowed a psychology text from his university library and kept it all semester. It dawned on him that the fines (which turned out to be $8) would be less than the price (around $40).


Christensen also has borrowed volumes from friends, split book costs with classmates and occasionally skipped buying expensive texts, hoping to get by without doing all the reading. He often shops for discounts online, sometimes snaring older editions or versions that aren't packaged with software or study guides that raise the cost.

Christensen attends school at a time when "Sociology: Your Compass for a New World" lists for $108.95, "Principles of Economics" for $150.95 and "Marketing Management" for $153.35.

"It's a tough fight to get textbooks for an affordable price," said Christensen, a Humboldt State University senior who hopes to become a high school history teacher.

The era of heading to the college bookstore and compliantly buying everything that a professor deems required reading — to the extent that those days ever really existed — is receding into the pages of history. The escalating costs of higher education and the ease of online shopping have spurred students to seek money-saving alternatives.

The more the government funds college tuition,the higher college textbooks will go.