by marley13 on October 14th, 2010

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Why is the cost of college textbooks so high?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

by crooooon on October 14th, 2010
...because the US likes fleecing people....

In some cases its almost criminal...I bought a science text book from the UK for $60, exactly the same in every way....If I had bought the book in the US it would of cost $250+...

Having said that one way they do it is by refusing to publish a paperback version within 1yr of release; if they ever do. In Europe....its months :(

Having studied both in US and UK I can honestly say US students are just being robbed...
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by BACzero on October 14th, 2010
Because they don't have to compete. If you're taking the class, you WILL buy the book, so they can charge whatever they want.
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- Exactly--it's a monopoly, for sure...
  
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  by marley13 on October 14th, 2010
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by Anonymous on October 14th, 2010
because there's money to be made off of you.
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by Ender is back.. And slightly confused. on October 14th, 2010
I think part of it has to do with the very specific nature of college textbooks. For example, if you are in a literature class, you will most likely be able to buy paperback versions of books that a lot of people have read and/or are reading. These books will most likely be cheap. However, compare that to a biology course in say, Genetics. Not many people are going to be studying Genetics, which lowers the demand, and the publishers lower the supply as well. Because of this, they have to charge more per copy than usual to account for production and writing costs and what-not. A limited run means that they won't sell as many copies, which means they won't make as much money as say, a popular paperback novel.

Not sure if that makes sense, but that's my reasoning about it. I'm not saying it's necessarily right (in an ethical sense), but I think it's close to an explanation.
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by Pith-y on October 14th, 2010
Because they have a captive audience who can't just run get a different text.

And if you are thinking about getting books from a resale vendor be very sure what you are looking for.

I've seen schools change editions from one semester to next which makes it impossible to buy from anywhere but the university book store.
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by aiar on October 14th, 2010
no competition?
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by angel1000 on October 14th, 2010
Because they know that you HAVE to buy them! CHA CHING! $$$$$$
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