The start of the school year is an expensive time, from buying school supplies to shopping for new uniforms. One of the most pricey parts is purchasing textbooks for classes. But, most of the ones that students are required to buy are hardly ever used in classes during the school year. A single textbook can cost more than $100, only for it to be opened once or twice throughout a semester. And, even if students opt to purchase used or online books, they are still incredibly expensive.
In light of this, teachers should work to be more aware of their textbook usage during the school year before requiring students to purchase them. When the online bookstore opens, students receive a list of books needed for each class, but are not told by teachers which ones will actually be used. Some students decide to wait to purchase them until they know which ones will be needed for sure, while others buy all of them and then end up not using most of them. This leads to some getting their books later in the school year due to shipping time, and the rest having a stack of books collecting dust in their house.
Another common occurrence is a student buying a certain required textbook, but then the teacher posts a free PDF of the book or provides links to online versions of it. This is a very kind thing to do, but it contradicts the need for individual students to spend so much money on textbooks when there are free versions available. Students also get creative with finding their own PDFs online, which eliminates the need for buying a physical textbook when the same thing can be found online for free.
There is always a strong debate between students over whether or not they should purchase the textbooks listed for their classes or take the risk of showing up to them with nothing. In order to make them feel better about spending hundreds of dollars on books, there should be reassurance from teachers that textbooks will either be used all throughout the school year or that they are either available in other free forms or just optional.
