Last week was that time of the quarter again. You had to buy the textbooks for the classes you signed up  for before spring break.

Buying textbooks can be a real challenge.  I am constantly waging war with the price tag.  Even if you can afford a $200 textbook, chances are, you’d rather spend that money on something else.  So why are our professors doing this to us?

It’s time we let them know how we feel.

Dear DU professors, your students do not just complain about textbooks because they are lazy or because they would much rather watch MTV. 

They complain about them because textbooks are expensive. They could buy new pairs of skis with the money they spend on textbooks. And the price keeps rising. 

According to the Student Public Interest Research Groups’ Make Textbooks Affordable campaign, the cost of textbooks has risen at four times the rate of inflation since 1994.

Yes, professors, we do know lots of ways to buy cheaper books, like looking online, but even using all the tricks I know like sharing textbooks with my roommate, I still spent over $365 on books in the past year.

If we can get an A in your course and walk away having learned as much as you can teach us in 10 weeks without paying for a book, let us. Provide us with suggested texts only.