The number one complaint of students everywhere the first week of school, besides fighting for a space around DVC to even get to class, is how much students have to drop for textbooks.

Even worse, is when week nine flies by and you still haven’t cracked the very same textbook you sold your soul for in week one.

Even being a savvy shopper like myself and attempting to use every source but the book store to find what the professors say we need to pass the class, week one becomes an extremely depressing week for my debit card.

Let’s talk numbers though because a lot of money for some is not a lot for others.

I spent upwards of $60 for an e-book and code for a psychology class this past summer semester.

We did use it all the time, but the online access lasted six months when I only needed it for six weeks.

I spent $90 for my second Norton Anthology, which as much of a wealth of knowledge as it is, will probably be reduced to a paperweight after this semester because of how flimsy they are and the fact that resale value drops dramatically with all the damage it will incur with use.

Even with the textbooks you take better care of than your first-born baby, most won’t be able to be sold because the books are updated to a new edition what feels like constantly.

I sold five brand new textbooks back last semester, all in great condition, but because of new editions being out, and the demand for certain books dropping, I received $25 for around $100 in books.

The minute you buy any book the value is immediately reduced.

The college kid stereotype is getting by eating ramen noodles and not having a lot of money to spend.

Textbooks should be affordable.

DVC does offer loose leaf editions which reduce some cost and they allow you to rent a textbook instead of buying it, which are great first steps towards reducing how much money a student spends on their books.

But there should be more options to buy older editions, or to have upfront honesty with professors to see if the books are necessary to the class, or just a great addition.

Even better would be that professors would choose textbooks that are reasonably priced, or that textbook prices would drop from the extremes to something reasonable at all.