I took 205M last semester but dropped it. It was nowhere NEAR that much.

How can they justify this?

1/12/2010 3:43:59 PM

Here's their response to a similar question:

Hello,


Many publishers have been investing in new tutorial type questions for
physics to be delivered in WebAssign, as requested by many physics
instructors in our community. This type of content is more expensive to
develop. The publishers must recoup their expenses.

There are two options. Students can buy a new textbook and have
WebAssign access included in the purchase price. Or they can purchase
just WebAssign that gives them access to the complete textbook online.
With a new textbook, publishers receive income. When students purchase a
used textbook, publishers do not receive the funds they need to create
the new content.

I know higher prices are unpopular, but in this case I think students
who are looking for the lowest cost option available can have it both
ways, either with a new textbook or with a very reasonably priced online
version along with WebAssign.


But I already have the textbook. And so to do my homework, I must buy it again.

1/12/2010 3:52:18 PM

haha sucker, I got it for free.

1/12/2010 4:57:17 PM

one class that I am thankful that I will never have to take again

1/12/2010 5:26:54 PM

wait... you have to PAY for webassign?!

reason #24634 that I'm glad I'm old

1/12/2010 10:17:03 PM

get out of here grandma

1/12/2010 10:55:01 PM

hey now

while I did graduate from state almost 6 years ago, I am working on my master's so I can still post about school, k

1/12/2010 11:34:49 PM

^

If youre working on your masters you can join my team .

1/12/2010 11:58:06 PM

A whole bunch of freshmen and sophomores are bitching about this too in my 208N class. You do realize it covers 2 class sessions; the lecture and lab. Isn't it usually about $30 per class? If so then, this would make sense... At least, that's how I justified the expense (an outrageous one imo), after I couldn't find a code anywhere to help me save some money

[Edited on January 13, 2010 at 6:11 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on January 13, 2010 at 6:11 AM. Reason : .]

1/13/2010 6:11:19 AM

I still think it's ridiculous that a program developed with federal, state, and university funds can be spun off into a private for profit company so that they can gouge students with what used to be a free service.

1/13/2010 1:21:15 PM

Yeah, that's fucking bullshit. You shouldn't have to PAY to do your homework. You Pay to take the class, and pay for the book. You don't pay to do homework.

1/13/2010 5:46:56 PM

You pay to have your homework graded. Due to lack of TA's maybe this is the only way to have it graded?

Do any of you pay your tuition bills (or at least look at them)? 67$ is laughable.

[Edited on January 13, 2010 at 7:05 PM. Reason : .]

1/13/2010 7:05:08 PM

eek, i paid 25$ for webassign and textbook access last semester o_O

1/13/2010 7:27:49 PM

Quote :

"^ If youre working on your masters you can join my team ."

not if I'm at Meredith

and fuck paying $67 for webassign - for my first 2 math classes at State, we turned in written homework and the prof graded it himself

1/13/2010 8:31:18 PM

sounds like they are trying to save you money... $67 for webassign + a textbook sounds like a deal.

I remember when webassign was free... oh the days.

Quote :

"I still think it's ridiculous that a program developed with federal, state, and university funds can be spun off into a private for profit company so that they can gouge students with what used to be a free service."

do you not realize how many products/concepts/etc have the same roots and you pay for them now? It's wonderful that items/ideas/etc created in a university can be developed into a private company/industry and enable the product to become globally marketed and sold, which in the end, was probably a general the goal of the research - develop something the world can use/will improve the world. if we made everything that came out of government funds free... we would have one hell of a mess on our hands.

however, I think NCSU should still receive a kickback for webassign.... but it's a private company... so their choice.

[Edited on January 14, 2010 at 9:23 AM. Reason : /]

1/14/2010 9:22:29 AM

yeah, $67 for webassign and the book is probably a good deal (without knowing the price of the book on it's own). I think those of us who remember or know that webassign was once free see it as sorta being taken advantage of.

To the OP, you have X amount of days to return the book with a full refund (if you got it locally)... are you past that point? It's only the 4th day of the semester, I'd imagine not.


Some of these services you just have to look at as you would a textbook. I've had classes with no actual text book, classes with 1 really expensive book, classes with a bunch of cheap books that added up, and some with a couple of really expensive books. I've also had classes with a textbook and something else we had to pay for, materials or some sort of service. $67 for one class isn't bad. I've spent 3x that on books/materials for any one course at various times during school. I've also spent half of that on one class... it averages out.

What does kinda suck is that it's impossible to sell back. You're never guaranteed much of a return or that you'll even be able to sell a used text book, but the chance of something is better than a guarantee of nothing.

1/14/2010 11:52:45 AM

Webassign was never free.

You just didn't see the cost because it was hidden away in your student fees because NCSU had a site-license.

A few years ago NCSU decided they didn't want to buy a site license anymore, and i believe they also raised student fees, so now you get the joy of throwing a little more cash down on top of everything else you pay.

In this case, the 67$ is mainly for the content, plus the service. It isn't outrageous when compared to books that usually cost over 100$. It sucks for the OP in this case since they already have the book, but overall I don't see that this is that big of a deal.

1/14/2010 12:13:52 PM

Quote :

"I still think it's ridiculous that a program developed with federal, state, and university funds can be spun off into a private for profit company so that they can gouge students with what used to be a free service."

Don't tell Jim Goodnight that.

1/14/2010 8:15:54 PM