Costs of textbooks often outweigh their benefits

Professors need to be mindful of the financial constraints that students face and shouldn’t require students to purchase textbooks that don’t merit the expense.

Outside of Student Stores, there are few brick-and-mortar bookstore options that students can go to in Chapel Hill to buy their textbooks.

As a result, many students have turned to the Internet in order to find cheaper textbooks via websites such as eBay and Amazon.

Student Stores has done well in terms of increasing the number of ways students can get books for their courses — students can buy new or used books and resell their books at the end of the semester.

In addition, they can now rent textbooks.

However, there is only so much that students can do to minimize costs.

At the end of the day, it also comes down to what it is that professors expect their students to purchase.

If professors require students to purchase textbooks, then they should ensure that those textbooks are properly used in their classes.

If professors only wish to cover short excerpts from several textbooks, then they should consider providing copies of relevant chapters for their students instead of requiring them to buy all of those textbooks.

As such, professors might think about utilizing course packets instead of textbooks in certain situations.

Clearly, textbooks enhance — and are often necessary to — advanced learning. But professors must also recognize the reality that not every student can afford every textbook.

Professors should see if they can do more to protect their students’ thinly lined pockets, while not compromising the quality of their instruction.