Student Union Senate passed a resolution, Jan. 28, in support of Open Educational Resources — various online resources offering free textbooks to college students— in an attempt to cut down on what many students see as excessive and increasing textbook costs.

The Student Life Editorial Board argues that prices for textbooks are too high.

Textbook shopping can be a financial nightmare for students, as new copies of required books can run well into the $200 to $300 range. Fortunately, the school bookstore and websites such as Amazon and eCampus offer rentals and used copies that can run at less than half the price of a new book. This flexibility lessens the burden on students who prefer not to spend exorbitant sums on textbooks that may not be necessary to absorb the material in a given class.

Is the iPad able to continue fueling Apple’s growth? Should Starbucks invest $40 million to improve its in-store operations? If you have thought about these questions, then congratulations. You are among the many b-schoolers who are being trained under the case method. Case studies have become a quintessential part of the business school experience.

Textbooks. Every time a new semester rolls around, it’s time to get a new stack of them. Textbooks are the bane of students, being oversized, expensive lumps that burn a hole through our wallets. Often, professors don’t even use these books, except for homework problems, leading to what students view as a gigantic waste of money.

Packages stacked as tall as students have backlogged the South 40 mailroom, preventing many from receiving the textbooks they ordered online. Mail Services Manager Peggy Smith attributes this delay to an overwhelming number of students ordering books online at the start of the semester.

Though few students have caught on, they no longer need to lug around heavy backpacks filled with textbooks. Electronic textbooks (e-books) are now available for a number of classes. Despite a 30-50 percent savings in textbook cost, less than 1 percent of students are using this alternative textbook.

Though buying books for a new semester still means lugging around a heavy basket in the basement of Mallinckrodt, the load is easier on some students’ wallets this year thanks to a new program that gives students the option of renting their textbooks instead of buying them.

Classes have begun, and buying textbooks is on everybody’s mind. There is an easy and convenient way to take care of it all at once: the Campus Bookstore. Purchasing books is certainly simple. There is, however, a downside: the bookstore is very expensive.

The conservatives have won another battle in Texas concerning student textbooks: On an 11-4 vote, a new standard for textbook drafts were released recently, and it has caused quite a stir.