Combating high-priced text books

Jeff Benson

Students are routinely paying as much as $200 for college texts

they’ll use for only a few months, but the Orange Coast College

Foundation has booked a free alternative to make assigned reading

more bearable.

The foundation has set aside $15,000 to establish a lending

library of 200 popular textbooks used in the college’s courses. It’s

also allocated another $3,000 to purchase 25 books, so they can loan

them out to those who can’t afford them for an entire semester.

When students return to classes Monday from winter intersession,

they’ll be able to walk into the library and study books on a variety

of subjects, and for up to four hours at a time, foundation Director

Doug Bennett said. After showing their school ID cards at the front

desk, students can check out texts, make copies and turn them in when

they’re finished, he said.

The foundation used funds contributed by private donors and

combined them with a portion of a $900,000 bequest left by former

Orange Coast College physical education professor Shirley Brooke, who

died in 2003. Brooke taught at the college from 1956 through 1964.

“When we got the money, it was set aside for scholarships,”

Bennett said. “We decided how to best package the money to help

students in the way in which they were having the most concern -- and

that was that textbook prices are going so high. When it comes to

books, a lot of students just don’t have the money to pay for them.”

Many students have pressing circumstances, such as the need for

child care, or work-related difficulties that prevent them from even

stepping foot in the library, so some of the money will be used to

purchase books for them, Bennett said. Students with legitimate needs

for textbooks are invited to submit a brief essay to the foundation

that describes why they need them, he said. A committee will vote on

the essays to determine who gets first crack at the loaner books.

Associated Students trustee Shana Jenkins, 19, said she’s paid

nearly $700 for textbooks so far this year and can’t afford to buy

one for each class because of outrageous costs.

“It’s gotten really hard to afford classes, since our classes went

from $11 to $18 to $26 per unit,” Jenkins said. “And you’re buying a

textbook that’s anywhere from $100 to $200 for each class. Biology

and math books seem to be more expensive.”

Jenkins said she and a friend plan to walk to the library every

day after class to get their reading done. But if other students need

to use the book she’s reading, she won’t mind sharing.

“There’s only one of each book, but you can meet up with somebody

in your class and join a study group,” Jenkins said. “I think it’s

great. I actually prefer them being in the library so everyone can

have access to them.”

Bennett said the foundation doesn’t expect to solve the financial

difficulties of all 25,000 Orange Coast College students, but it will

take care of some of the neediest. After the spring semester, the

foundation will assess the program and adjust to meet changing

student needs, he said.