I petition our lawmakers to enact laws that will curb the abuses described above that are perpetrated by educational textbook publishers. If you are a collegiate or graduate student, you know to which companies I am referring. Please sign this petition to lower the costs of education not only for yourselves but also for your children.
Why is this important?
I am a senior entitled to free audit classes at our state community college. I have tried to take classes that will enhance my employability. But after two semesters, I gave up because the cost of textbooks is just horrendous. I have tried buying used books but it turned out that they are practically useless because the textbooks have key CD-ROM discs that allow the student to access online assignments and information. The publishers' websites require that the book be registered and owners of used or hand-me-down textbooks are not allowed to register. Some professors seem to be in cahoots with the publishers of such books as their assignments are almost always exclusively accessible on the website of the publishers. After calculating the costs of the textbooks of my son, I found out that according to the semester and subjects enrolled, they easily equal or often even surpass the cost of tuition in a community college.
