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re: 26 years later and I’m still pissed off about LSUs book buying scams

Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:16 pm to
Posted by Gee Grenouille
Member since Jul 2018
8861 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:16 pm to
quote:

do students still have to buy textbooks today or is everything online?


You rent a virtual copy. I understood the POV of the publishers. If everyone just handed a copy down they’d eventually go bankrupt. They played out the “new version” scam as much as they could, then they used the college bookstores to facilitate the grift at a high price. The online renting is a fair balance. The publisher gets paid, as they should, and the price to the student is reasonable.
Posted by Hangover Haven
Metry
Member since Oct 2013
35473 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:25 pm to
Text books were part of your tuition fees at Southeastern when I was there...
Posted by BFIV
Virginia
Member since Apr 2012
9473 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:25 pm to
Had a math prof who wrote the textbook. He'd change editions EVERY quarter (I'm old. We were on the quarter system back then, not semesters.). Bookstore would not buy them back because the edition was outdated. Nice little scam he and the bookstore had going on there. ETA: The prof was a dothead. Not that it matters, I guess?
This post was edited on 9/8/26 at 1:27 pm
Posted by LSU Grad Alabama Fan
369 Cardboard Box Lane
Member since Nov 2019
14652 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:28 pm to
I forgot about the textbook scams at colleges. Those were the days.
Posted by PJinAtl
Atlanta
Member since Nov 2007
14929 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:30 pm to
quote:

Same. Except this bastard was published. Absolute racket

When I was at Auburn, all MIS majors had to take an Intro to Telecom class. The book was written by two AU professors and they had worked it out with the bookstores (University and private off campus) to not buy used copies.

They were starting to work on a second edition and one of the two professors taught a class that featured how to use Microsoft Project. One class figured out that he was having the class develop the project timeline (milestones, deadlines, etc.) for that second edition.
Posted by altTD
Baton Rouge
Member since Oct 2022
212 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:46 pm to
I think about this every time I get an email or junk mail asking me to donate to my alma mater. When asked personally, I’ve explained to the person asking for money that the university will only receive my tax dollars because any extra money I would be able to donate was squeezed out of me by the university when I was at the poorest point in my life. When they look confused I start with the textbook scam then go on to the technology fees, parking costs, etc and usually by then they’ve excused themselves to move on to their next target. 20 years later it’s still fresh on my mind and I will never forget what they did to me and other poor students who were just trying to make something out of their lives.

After typing all of this I think I may have needed therapy 19 years ago.
Posted by SteveLSU35
Shreveport
Member since Mar 2004
15159 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 1:56 pm to
Then you find out the professor wrote the book, and only changed a few graphs or terms in the back. New Edition cost eleventy billion dollars.
Posted by chinhoyang
Member since Jun 2011
26324 posts
Posted on 9/8/26 at 2:32 pm to
Baylor had a bookstore back in the day, took in a lot of cash. Armored car guard comes in one Monday to pick up the bank run. Everything goes well, except the guard was an imposter who took off with the money. To my knowledge, he never was caught. There also might have been two of them.
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