Before the beginning of each semester, students rush to buy textbooks required for their classes. The quicker a student gets to the bookstore the more likely he or she can purchase a used book instead of a new one, i.e. a less expensive book rather than one with an outrageous price tag.

You stand in line at the SMU Barnes and Noble, your arms weighted down by the numerous books, dreading your turn to check out. “Next!” the newly free clerk yells. You watch the total of your bill rise: $320…$500…$615. Six hundred fifteen dollars for books! And this happens right after making a payment close to $18,000 just for tuition to attend classes for the semester.

During the semester you realize there is an unused textbook staring you in the face. Your professor required you to purchase a $90 book, at minimum, but you never use it. The professor requires books for the class, which rarely get used. Rather the books sit unopened on my desk and only drain my parents’ pockets.

Do we need seven books for one class? Rarely do we read all of them. Even if we do open all seven books, seldom will they be read all the way through. Please do not tell me to buy something I won’t use. 

The end of the semester presents a chance to get some of your money back for the books, although you never receive 100 percent in returns. Many times stores refuse one of your books because a new edition is in stock, or the professor was just trying it out. Thank you for just trying out my money. That $110 book is thrown into the recycle bin, and you don’t see a dime of it.

I sit at the register praying to see more than $50 handed to me after the clerk decides the fate of my books: cash back or the recycle bin.  But don’t worry; even though I won’t see that $615 again I do receive a free Jimmy John’s sandwich.  Wow, I feel better now.

Kalee Vandegrift is a sophomore CCPA major and can be reached at [email protected].