By Jacob Peller, Staff Writer

Published Aug. 27, 2014

Congratulations, you made it through the first week of class.

Sadly, this also means that you’ve finished emptying your bank account in order to pay for books, tuition, meals, student fees, and other items you probably wouldn’t like to disclose.

With that being said, many students have turned to cost-saving techniques that are, well, illegal. 

Perhaps the greatest example of this can be found in the illegal downloading of textbooks off of the internet, which can save students hundreds of dollars per semester.

This is especially true for those of us who have math and science classes. 

These courses require students to buy books that can cost up to $200, and don’t even think twice about the potential consequences of those requests. 

For these courses, it almost seems like shelling out hundreds of dollars for a book is no big deal and that students have endless amounts of money to spend.

It is, of course, illegal to download music, movies, books and other items from the internet free of charge. 

Not to mention that the school’s wireless is, essentially, programmed to document and report any of these actions.

But when it comes to downloading text books, assuming students find a way to not get caught, who is the one being hurt?

The answer is quite simple: the school’s budget.

While downloading anything that is not owned by the original creator does prevent them from receiving any of the profits that should rightly go to them, it is the school that takes the biggest hit in terms of profit gains.

Whether or not they care to admit it, profiteering off of students is the way that school administrations have been functioning since the very concept of a college was considered.

Between paying for room and board, meal plans with flex – that keep any currency from leaving the confines of the campus area – and additional school drives and events meant to raise money for the school, it seems like there is always a need for a little more money in administration’s coffers.

To make matters worse, this constant finagling doesn’t end after graduation.  Not long after you’ve left the rust red bricks of campus, you’ll be bombarded by calls from the UNCG Telefund asking for generous donations.

It should also be noted that many people on campus are still upset over the student fees levied over of the new recreation center when many of us won’t even be able to see the building’s completion before graduation.

Of course, this particular charge will positively benefit the school in the long run, which makes it a bit more understandable than other fee increases.

Yet, it seems that when we have campus-wide protests over raising the cost for future constructions we seem to accomplish very little in the way of slowing the eve- increasing cost of attendance.

Like the rising cost of gas prices, we are unwilling to go against this fee.

Why should we pay so much for the same amount of learning that four years ago cost half as much?

It seems to me that by raising the cost of attendance as well as many other aspects of campus life, we should be covering more rather than less.

If trends are to continue as they are now then eventually going to college will no longer be even slightly cost-effective.

Now, of course, I’m not saying that in order to combat these rising costs you should all go and download your class books from the internet. 

However, it is beyond understandable why many students seriously consider illegal downloading in order to save a buck. 

Universities need to change, or else they’ll get shortchanged.

Food for thought.