The girl behind the checkout desk had a smile that was sympathetic but her words were searing.

A hardback-hail of literature was pushing the student to the ground. In reality, what hit her was a $785 bill. The employee gave the same weak grin.

“I’m sorry, your total is $785,” she said. The student’s whole body sagged. It was as if $785 worth of textbooks had plummeted from the ceiling of the campus shop onto her head.

This school year Elon raised its tuition by $2,000. In this one retail moment, almost $800 more was added to the student’s tuition this semester. One class required a textbook that, including the shrink-wrapped student solutions manual, was $316.

She had to drop the class, as her family could simply not afford a textbook that cost more than a 20 inch TV—a Toshiba flat screen that also came with a DVD player.

Half.com, and other similar used textbook sites, are great ways to find deals on textbooks but this particular book was the newest sixth edition. It was just off the press and used editions simply did not exist.

It is ridiculous that some students are unable to take classes because the required text are so formidable as to force their families to take out extra loans to pay for books. The book was never opened, but one has to assume the pages were lined with gold and the cover dipped in platinum.

There is no other possible justification for making a textbook, a required tool for learning, that appallingly pricey.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index, textbook prices have increased four times the rate of inflation in the last two decades.

In 2004, the State Public Interest Research Groups released a report documenting the high price of college textbooks. The report, “Ripoff 101,” surveyed textbooks and faculty at 10 public colleges and universities on the West Coast.

The increase in textbook supplements, such as CD-ROMs and online resources, are cited as a source of increased pricing. This “bundling” of main texts with workbooks and CDs not only hikes up the price but makes the books impossible to return. Sixty-five percent of the faculty surveyed in the Ripoff report stated they “rarely” or “never” used the supplemental items.

Bundled books cost about 10 percent more than the text without the additional materials. Wholesalers and retailers also question the number of editions and revisions textbooks undergo.

Constant revisions are being published for books in fields where minimal new core material is included. How much has basic Spanish grammar changed in the last couple of years? Has there been a new breakthrough in the teaching of cosins and tangents?

New editions are published every three years on average and cost 45 percent more than used copies of the previous edition.

This textbook trend is disturbing and disheartening. Tuition prices are being further compounded by these alarming textbook costs.

Even relatively well-off families are finding it a burden to float the costs of seventh and eighth editions that could only be worth their price if they came with an actual professor.

It is difficult to blame the professor or even the retailer because the publisher is at the core of the problem. Regardless, it would be helpful if professors would more carefully research the prices of the textbooks they are assigning.

Perhaps they could allow greater flexibility in which editions are acceptable for the course and recommend textbooks where the additional materials are optional.

The price tag of learning is increasing exponentially in a culture that considers higher education critical to success.

If this trend of ever increasing costs continues, fewer and fewer students will be able to attend places of higher eductation.

If we truly value higher education, then textbook companies need to lower their prices so that the cost of education does not become prohibitive.

Columnist: Margeaux Corby - 09/05/07