this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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I’ve also seen professors who get kickbacks from the sale of textbooks up to and including professors making their own textbook that they authored a required text for the course.
Are you asking why education is so expensive? It’s because the amount of staff (especially non-teaching admin staff) employed by universities has ballooned way out of control. A modern university campus is basically a miniature city at this point. It has its own police force, hospital, doctors offices, therapists, many different restaurants, laundry services, recreation and entertainment facilities, gyms, climbing walls, libraries (had those forever though), residential buildings, academic study (outside class) facilities… On and on and on it goes.
All of that stuff is paid for by the students through tuition, residence fees, meal plans, and miscellaneous fees. Sure, the construction of the buildings is usually paid for by donations, government grants, or the school’s endowment fund, but the day-to-day operating costs and staffing are all paid by students.
You might then ask how we got here, or why we don’t have a “bare bones university” with none of that extra stuff? Simple: competition between universities combined with student demand. Bare Bones University is not going to attract the top students who already have a ton of better options.
You forgot one factor that's also highly important: sports. College sports ALONE makes a lot of universities an eye popping amount of cash, and also costs them a boatload too. Couple that with donations and profits from those sports being earmarked ONLY for those sports (can't use your basketball money to do anything but improve your basketball facilities and pay the staff), and you're putting a stranglehold on a lot of ways to reduce cost.
Nobody is getting rich by writing a textbook. The most likely reason for using a book they wrote is that it includes information they thought was important.
My experience directly contradicts your claim. I took 2 physics courses in university, both with a mandatory textbook (University Physics) that all of the assignments were based on. And then the final exam was nothing like any of the assignments from the book.