Opinion | The college textbook monopoly - Sean Witt, the News-Record

Students are stuck in a cycle of buying at least one textbook for each class. Classes that require more than one book could dramatically increase expenses for students. There are rare gems of classes in which no textbook is required, but those are few and far between. For the classes that require a textbook, students only need to read small sections of it — assuming the book ends up being used at all. For many classes, the professor’s lecture is right out of the textbook, making some students question why they needed to buy it in the first place. Luckily, there are many options available for students to save money on textbooks, like buying or renting books online. You can often find the textbook you need at nearly half the price (and in great shape, too) when buying from third-party sellers. Many students opt for book rentals whenever possible, which alleviates the stress of trying to offload unwanted textbooks at the end of each semester. http://www.newsrecord.org/opinion/opinion-the-college-textbook-monopoly/article_1a86c9aa-263e-11e9-9faa-23a57d50d391.html