Supply and Demand

On the first day of class, one of my instructors immediately began discussions about the first three chapters of our textbook. Dumbfounded, I immediately began to panic. Here he was talking about the text, when just a few moments ago I was trying to locate my class! As soon as we were dismissed, I took a visit to the SU bookstore, with hopes of purchasing this textbook, with my university issued book voucher. Unfortunately, the book I needed wasn’t there at the moment, but after being told to check back soon, I left.
Two days later, I made my way back to the bookstore, hopeful that I’d be able to purchase my book. As you can probably guess, it still wasn’t available for purchase. But, I needed to acquire a few more titles of texts that I needed to purchase, so I bought those and decided to wait for the ever-elusive first textbook again.
As I traveled to the bookstore for the third time, lo and behold, I stumbled across the book that I’d been looking for all this time. I made my way to the counter, textbook in one hand, and book voucher in the other. The familiar feeling of disappointment overwhelmed me as I was told that the remainder of my book voucher would not be enough to cover the actual cost of the textbook.
I was under the impression that the university provided book vouchers to prohibit out of pocket spending for students. Admittedly, we ultimately pay for it, as our book voucher money is taken from our refunded amount. Why is it that I’ve paid so much and seen so little?
Maybe I am reading too far into this, or perhaps I’m hitting the nail on the head. I’ve chosen to voice my opinion, because I know I’m not the only student with this issue. Many of us have gone to purchase books and been unable to for a multitude of reasons, none of which are good enough. Bottom line is this: since the time for book vouchers is over, students are on their own to purchase textbooks. And for those like myself, who aren’t necessarily on the wealthier side, we’ll be waiting on our refund checks to buy books.
Mark Twain once said, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” Seems like it’ll be a while before I increase my knowledge.