Don’t break the bank to educate.

Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world. How exactly can we change the world when we can barely afford it?

Paying for college has always cost an arm and a leg. Now it seems like it’s costing an arm, leg, heart and soul.

Every year students shell out thousands of dollars to pay for tuition and then shell out even more money to pay for books.

We don’t bleed money. It seems like the more we spend money, the “healthier” the university gets. Like a vampire sucking blood from its victims. But it’s not just the university that makes money, publishing houses are also profiting from us.

Finding exact numbers for cost of books is difficult, but College Board suggests that the average student spends over $1,000 a year on books and supplies.

Since 2001, new college textbook prices have risen 6 percent per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s hard to understand why there are new editions of textbooks for every subject except money; money that students don’t have. So here’s a couple of ideas to help students not break the bank.

Imagine a world where introductory classes use the same textbooks. A world where teachers assign homework, assignments, and readings from the same text book. Where professors try to be reasonable. Can you at least attempt to make one edition of a book for all classes in the same major? Or give students at least two weeks to get our books situated or wait until refund checks hit our accounts before assigning assignments in the textbook.

Administrators, hear us out. Why can’t the cost of books be added into our tuition instead of making students pay an addition amount for books? It’s not much of a secret that teachers can negotiate prices with publishers. Help your students succeed. What about etexts as an option? Some students may not agree with the idea of etexts, but etexts is better than no text at all.

SOIs are Student Opinion of Instruction. These surveys that teachers and administrators ask students to fill out at the end of each semester are not worthless. Complain about your struggles with buying books. One bad SOI doesn’t make a change, but it’s a start. Hold teachers accountable for lack of resources needed to be successful in a class.

Students, don’t worry, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. If you want change, you have to make it happen. Break the cycle. Don’t sell your books back to bookstores, share the books with other students. Sell it at lower costs.

In other words, students, do what you can to survive the class. Be the change that everyone wants us to be.