Rising Textbook Prices

Our group has conducted valid research and all agree that the high price and ever-rising cost of textbooks in the state of New Mexico has become an issue. Luis Argon Castro, Catherine Ponce, Mathew Hagman, Saul Velez, and Hannes Harmon have conducted thorough research to bring this problem to the forefront of issues in New Mexico. We wish to open the public’s eyes to the knowledge and information produced by us on this matter. It feels as if commercial companies, publishers, and authors are taking advantage of students statewide in order to collect high profits, which happen to be increasing yearly. The prices have been substantially climbing every year since 1994 and have now surpassed the rise of inflation.
Higher education is becoming more and more expensive for students. Not only is tuition continuing to increase in cost, college textbook prices are drastically increasing as well. We as students are curious as to why the prices of textbooks are so high, and why they increase at the rate they do. It is becoming more difficult for students to pay for college along with their everyday living expenses. Students are concerned as to if New Mexico colleges and universities have the students’ best interest in mind, or are they simply interested in profit. We have identified what is behind the price of textbooks as far as their actual worth, and how much is profited by the companies providing the books. Moreover, we have explored alternative solutions for students when purchasing textbooks. We are presenting fellow students all the different alternatives, both legal and illegal; they currently have in order to save money on textbooks. Our objective is to significantly impact the way students and government look at textbook’s rising prices. The desired outcome would be to drive down the price of textbooks required for college students in the state of New Mexico. We have presented rules/legislation that would benefit the students. Among the major steps in our