Are college textbooks in the US a total ripoff?

[KonstantinosM]

I'll have to pay 130 dollars for a single textbook for a macroeconomics college course.

That's a bit outrageous. Young people are the poorest group in the United States. With all these problems how can publishers get away with asking so much money simply for putting other people's work together in a textbook.

The cost shouldn't be anywhere near that.

[cheekychap]

I'll have to pay 130 dollars for a single textbook for a macroeconomics college course.

That's a bit outrageous. Young people are the poorest group in the United States. With all these problems how can publishers get away with asking so much money simply for putting other people's work together in a textbook.

The cost shouldn't be anywhere near that.

I think its the publishers who get paid for all the work done by authors.
Look at sites like IEEE. 30$ for one article, which is not paid to the author. Gods must be crazy.

[bitgeek]

It's the same in every country. In EU they usually make an update every 2 - 3 years and give it for free to the teachers, so a student has to get the same new version to stay on top of things.

[Quartx]

College textbooks are overpriced everywhere, in the US it is actually considerably cheaper

[arvindr]

I think people living in those countries can actually afford those books because of also the higher earning wage. However people from Asia find these resources much more expensive.

[Bizmark13]

When I went to college, some of the textbooks we had to buy were over $200 each. I was able to buy used copies for a 1/20th of the price via online auction sites although they were usually slightly older versions so the page numbering didn't always match up. I was even able to find one particular book selling for $1.50 which I quickly snapped up although it was a year or two out of date. I also downloaded textbooks too although I understand that this isn't exactly legal.

[Lethn]

Yes, I suspect particularly in the U.S many of these 'textbooks' will be filled with bullshit too so I wouldn't rely on them as sources of information beyond what you need to pass your tests.

https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-patent-prevents-students-from-sharing-books-120610/