The Pain of Buying Textbooks

By Student Body President Zack Golden

Buying textbooks at the beginning of each semester has become a ubiquitous problem. Every semester, students have to deal with the frustrations that come from newer editions that prevent selling back older books, prices comparable to a down payment on a new car and finding the money to pay for their books before the first week of classes.

The first two problems associated with textbooks, new editions and staggering prices, are problems that exist on every campus, but whose solutions lie beyond the scope of our capabilities. However, ensuring students have the necessary funds in time to purchase their textbooks is an issue that can be addressed here at George Mason University. This solution can be achieved by instituting two new policies.

First, students should be able to obtain a voucher against the amount of their financial aid disbursement checks. The voucher would then be used to purchase textbooks at the Mason bookstore. While students who meet every deadline in the cumbersome financial aid and student loan process are able to get their disbursement checks before the beginning of the semester, many students do not meet all of these deadlines, some at the fault of their parents rather than their own efforts. Then students don’t receive their checks until several weeks into the semester. These students, who might be planning to use their disbursement checks for textbooks, need to have an option that allows them to get their books before classes start. A voucher program would allow them to do this.

Second, Mason needs to make sure that every required textbook is available in the reference section of the library. Students would not be able to check out these books, but having all required textbooks available in the library would give students facing extenuating circumstances preventing textbook purchases an option that would keep them from falling behind in classes.

As Mason President Alan Merten pointed out in his letter to the Mason community last week, the economic crisis that our country is facing has made it necessary for Mason to implement new policies to ensure that its students still have access to higher education. With the economic crisis making it more difficult to get loans in a timely manner, or at all, these steps need to be taken to ensure that students still have access to textbooks, an often-overlooked cost associated with higher education.