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this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Technology
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The plaintiffs artificially inflate textbook prices so it all balances out.
we are quickly careening towards a world where textbooks cost $500 a pop and the majority of students obtain their books illegally. Piracy is a pain in the ass, but if students need their textbooks and the publishers make it impossible to obtain textbooks without taking out a loan, then publishers are effectively paying students to spend the time figuring out piracy. If a student makes $15 an hour at their job, then they could spend 30 hours researching and downloading their textbook and it would still be a better use of their time than actually buying a $500 textbook.
every dollar prevented from going to cengage or pearson is a win for college students
but their online homework and grading subscriptions that they tie in with textbooks is definitely making it harder, especially the way they pay off schools to push their texts and curriculum on professors in stem fields, it’s awful and puts students in a position where they’re forced to pay for a textbook regardless
I remember missing a certification test for a legitimate reason, calling to reschedule, spending hours on the phone with Pearson and being told there’s nothing to be done. They couldn’t refund, reschedule or be bothered with me even after I paid $150 for an exam and called soon after. Somehow the pinnacles of knowledge are corporations that care less about your knowledge and are much more concerned with emptying your wallets like a bully after lunch money.