Once seen as the defining characteristic of America - though it perhaps still is in some circles - unbridled capitalism has come to show its true colors. After it began to sink this country into economic ruin months ago, with greedy lending institutions giving out bad loans and American consumers buying property they couldn't afford, the jacked-up political ideology led our economy to collapse in on itself. Many Americans now are starting to recognize, at least to a limited degree, the unjustified nature of capitalism run amok and the responsibility the government has to look out for its poorer citizens.
The University of Toledo, much like the United States government, is having its own issues in accommodating its constituents in the face of greedy interests. UT has done very well to advocate for less privileged students with its UT Guarantee Program, which will help a theoretically unlimited number of inner city prospective college students receiving Pell Grants to attend UT, but some problems still exist. This editorial board is referring to the corrupt process of purchasing books that students must go through every semester.
In some instances, the bookstores on campus are not to blame for the unnecessary hikes in book prices struggling students often have to shoulder. It is simply a characteristic of the industry. Publishers and authors of the books usually try to develop new textbook editions as fast as possible in order to invalidate the older, used books that would circulate for a lower price and thus provide for a lower margin of income for bookstores. The publishers and authors usually defend these revisions by saying the new text will utilize a more modern vocabulary more accessible to contemporary students or by claiming the new version corrected for older errors and added new information. Often, though, the vernacular doesn't change much in the period of a few years and a couple added commas, footnotes and a new section to a chapter or two hardly justifies a sizable price increase and an invalidation of older editions of the book.
In other cases, however, the UT Bookstore itself is responsible for increases in prices. The most clear cut and recent example of this was the decision of UT Bookstore management to increase the price of a package of books ordered by Dr. Linda Schuller. The price increase went totally to the bookstore as revenue, according to Schuller, as she worked out a deal with the publisher to package the normal textbook along with a dictionary and thesaurus for no additional charge.
The type of greed showcased by the UT Bookstore as well as the greed of the publishers driving the textbook industry needs to be kept in check. As enrollment numbers jump for public universities like UT in correlation to rising unemployment numbers, more and more students will enroll here unable to afford these expensive learning tools. UT and other institutions of higher education need to start considering tighter regulations on the textbook industry.
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