Should I Drop My Bank Account Or Class? 

Education is viewed as the most important aspect of a person’s life. Although there are many paths one can take after graduating high school, the most encouraged is attending a 4 year college/university. College is a place where a person can explore many criteria of study and work to be able to identify what it is they want to do for a career. Unfortunately. a setting that should be viewed with optimism and wonder has become the source of great burden and stress. University tuition can almost never be afforded out of pocket, leading students to take loans that will take years to repay. On top of the tuition is the hidden cost that takes students by surprise, textbooks. Many classes in college will require a textbook for assignments. These textbooks are not cheap and force students to pay hefty sums for a book they will use for one semester. Paying for textbooks after already paying or being in debt for tuition digs a student into a financial crisis. It has led many to question how helpful college really is as many are now more hesitant of the college route than ever before. A solution is making college textbooks free. 

The Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) is a service organization for the whole state of Florida that supports its public colleges and universities. They have a library system that all institutions in Florida can use and have tools to help students plan for college or transfer. They provide resources for students to utilize free of charge. FLVC has reliable data for adolescents in Florida relating to higher education. The data can be used to improve their efforts in supporting students the best they can. One notable discovery the campus FLVC made was in 2016 when they were able to find the impact of book cost on students. The results were shocking and negative. It was found that textbook costs harm students more than the textbooks help.  

College textbooks are supposed to be helpful for students in completing assignments and studying for exams. For years, institutions have utilized readings with the intention of making a student’s life easier. Recently, it has been observed that textbooks do not have this desired effect. Adolescents tend to avoid buying a textbook for classes and attempt to go on with the semester without it due to expensive prices. This becomes an issue as textbooks cover material that is critical to know and understand for certain courses that may not be brought up during lecture. The Florida Vertical Campus noticed a sharp decline in students acquiring textbooks for themselves and the consequences. The FLVC concluded that “66.6% don’t purchase the textbook, 21.6% drop the course, 19.8% fail the course.” (Bouchrika1.) Avoiding purchasing textbooks has a negative effect on students academically. They are unable to grasp the content and understand the material; therefore, they resort to leaving the class or even failing. This can make it much harder for someone to earn credits, fulfill requirements, and graduate on time. These goals should not be held back by prices of a book. If they were instead free of cost, none of this would be an issue and students would be much more successful. Those percentages would likely decrease since they now have access to a valuable tool that will raise their grades. Nobody would have to stress about exams and remove a class from their schedule. 

DropoutDan is a youtube channel with a predominant audience of college students. Brief interviews are held with university students who answer an opinion based question pertaining to college honestly. When it comes to college experience, there is no one better to ask than the young adults directly. They give a feel of what it is like to be a student in the modern day, responding to prompts such as teachers, social life, and education. Textbooks are also a topic that has been brought up to the students for their evaluation in the video “College Textbooks are a SCAM”, which was uploaded on November 9th 2022. It is impossible to trust someone more about the pains of textbook costs than a person who is going through that struggle currently. Kelly Matthews is an author who specializes in articles about education. She really focuses on what education is like for students in the modern day with topics such as mental health, the pandemic, etc. Her article “Cost of Textbooks Burdens Student Learning”, which was published in spring 2022 explains why she believes institutions should try to make textbooks more affordable. Textbook prices are higher unaffordably high and there are measures colleges can take to assist students in gaining resources for reasonable measures. 

It is commonly known that the best way to learn information about someone is to just ask them. To get a better sense of how college life is like today, many on social media record videos of students answering questions to give a sense of how life is in university. Although there may be bias present, their opinion is likely to be very reliable. Their responses have certainly shown a new age of learning very different from that of the past. If you observe a classroom/lecture hall in 2025, more students use laptops than the traditional notebook & pen. They are seen spending more time using computers than books. This is because work is more efficient using new technology and the web. It is because of this reason that students use electronic resources rather than textbooks. One student says that “they say you use the textbooks, but mainly the information is just out there online.” (Dropout Dan). This student has adjusted to the new era of education, where you can find information on anything using google, artificial intelligence, etc. Students have even been able to find their class’ textbook online for a cheaper price or even free. Mandating adolescents to purchase a textbook for a higher price than if they were to find it online is ridiculous. Students are clearly dissatisfied with this policy as making and saving money in college is not easy. With high costs, students have to devote time into acquiring that money and make sacrifices. They have to set priorities other than studying in order to have the ability to do so. This can negatively affect a student’s health physically and mentally.  Matthews explains that students have to “work extra hours while in school to cover the cost or even skipping meals in order to afford books required for class.” (Matthews 1). Adolescents already have a lot on their plate financially. They have to pay for tuition, housing, meals, etc. Working to meet these needs amidst clubs and classes only adds on to the stress. Colleges should try to help their students as much as they can. In the modern age, it is unnecessary to force students to buy textbooks when they are already in a crisis. It is reasonable that students look for the textbook online to avoid making their economic situation worse. A system in which a student considers giving up eating so they can buy an unnecessary textbook to pass a class is one that is callous. It may even be questioned whether or not the student is the priority. It is certain that students will respond positively to the ability of using a textbook for free.

If a professor requires a textbook for a class, it most likely will boost a student’s chances of passing the class. Getting good grades should come with hard work and studying. It is cruel to force students to additionally pay and undermine their hours of practicing a topic. Many students will be in deep trouble if they pay thousands and fail. This is a major injustice to adolescents who just want to pursue higher education and make a life for themselves. In a world with various resources to make schooling easier, institutions continue to choose the method that hurts their learners. It is unimaginable how many dreams have been crushed because someone cannot afford to pursue the career of their choosing. Paying for textbooks that will be used for one semester and never again must be considered outdated and discontinued for the benefit of inspired young adults. Adding secret costs not mentioned during the application process or included in the tuition is misleading, and shows a poor, greedy reflection of schools.

Citations:

Bouchrika, Imed. “Average College Textbook Cost for 2025: How To Cut It Down Without Compromising Studies.” research, https://research.com/education/average-college-textbook-cost.

Dropout Dan.”College textbooks are a SCAM” Youtube, uploaded by Dropout Dan, 9 November 2022, 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lVjqrRVahFg
Matthews, Kelly. “COST OF TEXTBOOKS BURDENS STUDENT LEARNING.” Phi Kappa Phi Forum, vol. 102, no. 1, spring 2022, p. 13. Gale In Context: College, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A700835459/CSIC?u=cuny_baruch&sid=bookmark-CSIC&xid=1f27464c. Accessed 2 Dec. 2025.