As I continue to press on with my eighth semester here at Ithaca College, one question seems to persist: Why the hell did my books cost so much? As a student, I am tired of being taken advantage of by textbook publishers. Textbook prices continue to skyrocket, as they have every year since I started college, and these publishing companies use gimmicks — such as changing nothing but the cover of a book — to jack the prices. I have consistently, semester after semester for the past four years, had to spend an outrageous amount to buy all of the books on my syllabi. It is always a difficult decision to make, either to buy the books or take the chance in not having them when they are needed. It is an unfair decision for students to have to make.

Let me offer some numbers real quick here. These statistics are from a recent Government Accountability Office study. First of all, textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of annual inflation during the past two decades, an average of 6 percent each year from 1987 to 1988. This has resulted in nearly 60 percent of students nationwide choosing not to buy all of the course material.

For those students who work to pay their tuition, ridiculous prices for textbooks are just one more thing to keep college out of reach. Students at four-year colleges spent, on average, about $900 each for books and supplies in 2003-04, more than a quarter of the cost of tuition and fees, according to the report. Textbook prices nearly tripled from 1986 to 2004. This is a result of the bogus new editions publishers release, which have changed little to nothing from the most recent edition except adding CD-ROM bundle packs. Thus, publishers are allowed to earn excessively at the expense of student wallets. These companies are truly limiting educational access for a significant population of students, and we should not stand for it.

S.G.A.’s Direct Action Committee serves to educate the Ithaca College community about alternative means of purchasing books for class. For example, buy used textbooks online rather than in the bookstore, question the bookstore itself as to the role it plays in textbook pricing, use the online book swap that Ithaca College is a part of (www.campusbookswap.com), demand that your professors allow you to use the previous editions, borrow a free copy from the library, ask your professors to negotiate lower prices and longer shelf lives for textbooks (this actually happened at UCLA, resulting in a 20 percent price cut), ask your professors to order textbooks early, ask your professors to order textbooks unbundled, contact the publishers directly through publishers.org or contact your elected officials to make a change. As you can see here, there are a number of different actions we can take to pressure the companies to lower prices.

By utilizing these alternative methods and mobilizing students, we can eliminate the unnecessarily high cost of books. This issue affects us all. The best way to combat this problem is to create a dialogue with your professors. Question them as to why they are being complacent about the rise of textbook prices. You may find your professor is completely unaware of this problem and is more than willing to help out. In turn, you can join the textbook price campaign in creating a coalition of students and faculty that can combat this hijacking of textbook prices. Together we can become a strong and formidable force.

If you are interested in helping out and joining the fight contact the Student Direct Action Committee. Take action; save some cash. daniel mccarey is a senior anthropology major. E-mail him at dmccare1@ithaca.edu.