it's not life that matters but the journey...

I talked with my friend yesterday who is also a student in the paralegal program. We were going to take a class together, Intellectual Property, my last class in the program . This friend of mine quit her job back around Halloween and started waitressing - I guess she wanted more free time for school. But now she tells me that she can't afford school and she's dropped her classes. Then she told me the real reason she can't afford school - the cost of the textbooks. She was going to take three classes, and the one book for the Intellectual Property class is - get this - $185!! With 10% sales tax, that would cost over $200. For one paperback textbook!! What the hell? Thankfully I went online and found the book for only $112 on Half.com - so even with expedited shipping, I'm saving about $80.
And I've been trying to sell some other textbooks on there - yesterday I knocked $10 off the price of one that I had been trying to sell for about a month, and it sold right away. Granted, I'm selling it for half what I paid, but at least I can make a little money for it.

I am sorry for anyone who has to put kids through college, or pay for your own tuition and textbooks. The cost of textbooks these days is outrageous - it's robbery. Do you know that when I went to university for my undergraduate degree (way back in the stone ages), I paid less than $400 for an entire semester of classes? I don't remember what I paid for textbooks, but then they didn't get new volumes every year, and you could get used books for really cheap.

ah, the high cost of inflation. Kind of makes me yearn for times when things weren't so hard or so expensive.