As an international student at Washburn University, one of the biggest surprises I faced wasn’t about culture or academics. Rather, it was the cost of textbooks. Before coming to the U.S., I had budgeted for tuition, housing and food. But when I saw that some of my required books cost over $100 each, I realized that the hidden costs of studying go far beyond what I was prepared for. 

In today’s digital era, the idea that printed textbooks are a necessity now feels outdated. Most readings and materials are already available online through the university library, open-access databases or are shared by professors. Yet students are still expected to buy books with new editions or pay for expensive access codes that expire after one semester. These systems are designed to benefit publishers, not students.

For international students, this burden is even heavier. We already pay higher tuition, deal currency conversion rates and have limited work opportunities. Spending hundreds of dollars each semester on books that we might only use for a few chapters is not just inconvenient, it’s unsustainable.

Washburn has made great progress in offering digital tools and library resources, but more professors should consider using open educational resources or library e-texts instead of requiring costly textbooks. Doing so would make learning more equitable and align with the digital world we live in.

Education should be about access to knowledge, not about who can afford the latest edition. In the modern world, information is everywhere, but it’s time for universities, including ours, to stop making students pay extra to access it.

Edited by Anson Appelhanz and Bidhya Sapkota