Whatever money students might save on buying books secondhand is now spent on access codes that are required by some classes.
When signing up for a class, tuition is just the first cost students have to worry about. Once classes start, students have to then worry about buying the book.
Books themselves can cost as much as the class. For the intro to physical fitness/wellness class, the book at the bookstore sells for $52.95 plus tax.
That same class at TCC costs $64 for the one credit hour the class is worth.
But college books have been required since the dawn of time, and there are options to buy the books used or rent them for cheaper so students have learned to get around the costs.
More recently access codes have been the new requirement added to classes on top of the required texts. They give access to homework, so not having the access code means students are unable to complete assignments.
Sometimes, quizzes are online and require the code so there’s another grade deduction if students don’t have the code.
The access codes cannot be bought used or rented. The only option is to buy it new.
For example, Spanish I at TCC requires the book and the access code.
The book and the access code required for that class sell for new at the bookstore for $173 and the class itself costs $256 without tax. If you do the math, that’s $429 spent on one class at a community college.
And most students take more than one class.
Who decided that college students need to pay to do their homework on top of everything else? What happened to homework on paper that the teachers actually have to hand grade?
I don’t see how paying to do homework and quizzes online benefits students in anyway.
Mathematically, it seems to only benefit big business at the cost of the students.
