Textbook sales: one big rip-off

It's that time of year again when universities around the nation resume their noble mission, which is to field good football and basketball teams, educate students and sell a lot of really expensive textbooks.

Not necessarily in that order.

Have you visited a college bookstore recently? Old saying: "The road to knowledge begins with the turn of the page." New saying: "It begins with a credit card."

At a local university bookstore (just pick one, it doesn't matter), the "Introduction to Teaching" textbook sells for $100 — about the same as the monthly salary of a first-year teacher. The book is required for the class.

So is "Fundamentals of Corporate Finance." Apparently, one of the fundamentals of corporate finance is to pay $162.35 for a textbook.

A Spanish language book sells for $61. It's called "Espana: Ayer y hoy," which, roughly translated, means, "Hoy, what a pricey book."

Want to see a student go Leona Helmsley on you in an instant? Just mention the price of college textbooks at any university.

"I hate buying stuff there," says Kyle Bowen, a sophomore who transferred to Utah from Dixie. "I've spent $400 in one semester for books. It's a rip-off."

"Chemistry — The Central Science" sells for $134.80. "Sociology," $105. "Psychology and Life," $122. "Inorganic Chemistry," $140. "Principles of Human Physiology," $155.75. "Contemporary Nutrition," $77. "World of Psychology," $80.

Maybe the covers are made of crushed diamonds.

"Personal Finance" costs $145.35, but it does include a personal financial planner, as noted on the cover. First entry in financial planner: Don't buy this book.

For $127 you can have your own copy of "Anatomy of Physiology for Speech, Language and Hearing," a book so thick it took three people to write it — Seikel, King, Drumright. Almost all textbooks are written by a group of authors — one to dictate, one to type and one to get lunch.

According to an employee, the University of Utah bookstore sells a geology book for $219, but it was nowhere to be found on the shelves. For that price, the book probably comes with a gold nugget.

By the way, every book in a campus bookstore has new and used prices — both of them expensive. "Macroeconomics" is typical — $149.35 new, $112 used, if you can find it. Most students think it's a complete mystery why used books are so difficult to find at the outset of each semester.

We had it all wrong. Colleges are really just bookstores with schools attached, not vice versa. The way it probably happened is that some enterprising businessmen met decades ago to discuss ways to sell more books and had an epiphany.