Custom textbooks could also be pricey
After reading “Custom texts trump pricey new
editions” (Jan. 25), I was happy that the issue of high
textbook prices was receiving attention. However, I was concerned
with the idea of custom textbooks.
Custom texts do not seem to pose a solution. Currently,
publishing companies use unfair practices such as charging more in
the U.S., coming out with unnecessary new editions, and bundling
books with additional products that a student may not need.
Custom textbooks would still be under the whim of publishers and
could be priced unfairly. New editions of the custom text could
still be released quickly or bundled with additional products that
a student may not wish to purchase.
Also, since the book is limited to such a small audience, the
used book market would be even more stifled. Currently, a student
at UCLA could sell a book over the Internet if the course was no
longer being offered here, but custom textbooks prohibit this.
As a student who has spent over $400 in one quarter on
textbooks, I understand the burden that buying pricey books places
on a limited income.
In order to solve this problem, students should be educated
about the issue of textbooks and talk to their professors about
issues that concern them.
Professors can help by using multiple syllabi for different
editions of a book and expressing concerns with new editions and
bundling practices to publishers.
While the problem is being fixed, I encourage students to look
at alternatives. Alternatives may include buying used, buying books
from overseas sources such as Amazon.uk, which often have lower
prices even after exchange rates and shipping, or borrowing the
book from the library.
Jolene Mitchell
Fourth-year microbiology, immunology, and molecular
genetics student
Poor need access to health care
High health care costs, lack of education and information to
facilitate illness prevention, lack of consistent access to health
care resources, lack of early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment
““ all these are life and death differences between those with
insurance coverage and those without.
There are approximately 40 million Americans without any sort of
health care coverage. Millions more have inadequate coverage or
sharply rising premiums. A large percentage of those uninsured
today are in fact low-income families and the elderly, not welfare
cheats as many claim.
Millions who are now vulnerable had some kind of coverage in the
past. These facts reveal an ongoing, embarrassing contradiction
within our purportedly advanced culture, as well as evidence of
failure to uphold our fundamental values. This morally bankrupt,
survival-of-the-fittest mentality ““ resulting in a
double-standard of health care access ““ is unconscionable,
representing the worst sort of discrimination based on wealth.
Until these social and economic inequities are substantively
corrected, poverty will remain one of the United States’ top
killers.
Solomon M. Matsas
Former staff, UCLA Student Affairs