Persuasive speech

Imagine a student walking to class on their first day of college. The student sits in their seat, anxious for the professor to introduce the course and explain the required materials needed for success. As the professor explains the syllabus, he finally gets to the required materials for a class, explaining that the required text was a book he had co-written, and costs $400 dollars, and no other textbook will work for the class explaining that you will fail the course without buying textbook. The student immediately goes into a panic and begins to think if college is the right choice for them. The stress of tuition is already stressful enough, and on top of it all, some classes require a university custom textbook. What makes these textbooks so expensive and why is that the only book option offered? I am currently a college student myself at a school with expensive specific university textbook time and time again, and I am passionately against the idea of custom textbooks and their unnecessary expense. today I would like to discuss this problem. I will begin by talking about the inflation of the price of textbooks. I will then further explain the corruption in the policies of re updating versions of textbooks. I will lastly propose some possible solutions for this problem. Start w/ textbooks

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University specific textbooks cost significantly more money than generic textbooks. There are many current examples that prove university textbooks are much more pricey than generic textbooks According to Herb Weisbaum with his CNBC article, College textbook costs more outrageous than ever "the average student in this country (meaning the United States) spends around $1,200 a year on books and supplies. A single book can cost as much as $200". In many cases, depending on the university, such as Colorado State University (as I personally know), the required textbook for one class can cost up to $400, and in some cases, there are multiple required texts. Due to these outrageous costs, many students will not purchase the textbook, and are willing to accept the grade consequences because of it. Herb Weisbaum continues to explain in his article that "statistics based on a survey of more than 2,000 students from more than 150 different campuses across the country conducted fall of 2013: 65 percent said they had decided against buying a textbook because it was too expensive. Nearly half (48 percent) said the cost of books had an impact on how many or which classes they took. 94 percent of the students who had skipped buying a required book said they were concerned that doing this would hurt their grade Having gone through this contemplation myself, it is unfortunate and borderline terrifying to know that if you do not buy a textbook, you have a higher potential to fail a class that already costs a fortune.

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As you can see, the problem with custom textbooks has taken a toll on students ability to succeed in a class, but you will face another problem if you buy the book, and this problem is what you do with it after. Not only is buying the custom textbooks an issue, selling them back can be nearly impossible I had to buy a university specific management book last spring, which cost me roughly $150. When the end of the semester rolled around, I went to sell my book back, and the lady at the counter said my book was outdated (to inform you all, the textbook was dated spring, 2016) and they could offer me nothing for it. I know I am not the only student exhaustingly raged about this experience, and it is unethical for a university to force students to buy a book and will not even compensate some of the textbook expense during buyback season. Meg Marco in her CONSUMERIST article Are "Customized" Textbooks A Scam? Says "textbooks that have pieces from different books sewn together, usually with a chapter or two by the professor teaching the class. The books generally can't be sold back to the college bookstore, nor can the student choose to buy them at another store. Professors who contribute chapters to the books are paid royalties". Much of the time, the topics, and understandings you would get from a custom textbook are similar or exactly the same as the topics you would find in an open university generic textbook. Along with this, university specific textbooks cannot be rented. Marco mentions in her article that not only can these textbooks not be purchased outside of their institution, but many of these books cannot be rented and must be bought. Many students enjoy the luxury of renting textbooks for a lower price, but the custom textbooks do not offer it, which can break the bank for many people.

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It is unfortunate that students have to purchase the expensive textbook, and not being able to return it after the course is over. There are many solutions that can save students money. Lastly, I will explain possible solutions for this problem To start, the most obvious solution for this problem is to ban university specific textbooks altogether. Students should not have to worry about buying a custom textbook from a university, when they can find the same information needed for the course from a different book. Universities should buy into contracts with other textbook companies instead, and give students better rates on books if they buy them through the university. Another solution to this textbook dilemma is to give the royalty money professors make off of the book back to the students to make the books more affordable. According to Jack Stripling with USA Today in his article Inside Higher Ed "At the University of Kansas, for instance, professors are required to donate any royalties made off their students to their departments, schools, scholarship funds or other nonprofit groups" If colleges insist on having custom textbooks, then they should keep its business ethical and donate the money to students and the community rather than pocketing the money and reaping the benefits.

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To conclude, university specific textbooks have made purchasing textbooks more expensive than it ever has been. From breaking the budget of a college student, to students accepting the fate of possibly failing a class because they cannot afford the book, custom books are making it much harder for the college student academically, which is why they should not be allowed. So, the next time you are sitting in a class and the professor offers a generic low-cost textbook, be thankful it is not university custom.

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