School tuition can be hard enough to afford, but include textbooks and now you’re adding insult to injury. “Textbooks are hardest part about affording college,” said Kristy Miller, a 22 year-old Oxnard College student majoring in chemistry. In August, a published report from the Bureau of State Audits showed that full-time students at California community colleges spend $480 annually on student fees.

Those same students spent $692 a year on textbooks, an increase of 59 percent over student fees. For the academic year 2007-08, textbooks represented nearly 60 percent of the total cost of a student’s education. According to the California State Auditor Elaine Howle, the markups on textbooks ranged from 25 percent to 43 percent of the publishers’ invoice prices.

When books are purchased through the bookstore, the profits are used to cover operating expenses and to augment the Associated Students’ budget. The report also found that although most bookstores have reduced-cost options

for their students, including used and electronic books and book loan programs, they have been inconsistent in implementing these strategies. The Associated Students of Moorpark College picked up where the state left off.

The first method to help students is to inform professors of legislation, such as Assembly Bill 2477, which encourages them to find the cheapest books for students and also to look at ways to ensure that more students have access to used books. Other ways to help reduce costs is for professors to use paperback or spiral versions of the textbooks instead of costly hardback editions, said Moorpark Associated Student President Sara Yakhi.

On Oct. 10, Moorpark College hosted a faculty retreat with a presentation by the A.S. about the affordability of textbooks along with solutions to help students mitigate the costs. Donna Valle, student trustee for the Ventura County Community College District says the most important goal to help students is to implement a rental program for textbooks. “A student will have to sign a contract for the semester stating they will bring back the book in condition received,” said Valle. “They will not write in the book, they can only have it for one semester. It will be an estimated cost of $20 and if they do not return the book at the end of the term, there will be a hold on their transcripts and if it is damaged they will pay for the regular book price to replace it.”

The Associated Student Government can be contacted in the Associated Students Office at (805) 378-1400, ext. 1635.