College students today are in the highest-pressure environment. Bills, books, bandwidth, cars, classes, credit cards, cell phones, professors, papers, presentations, parties, parents, police, procrastination, peers, popularity, diets, debts, drugs, money, exercise, email, roommates, fashion, and sex are only a few of the problems that students deal with on just about a daily basis. The biggest problem, out of this list, is not diet, parents, or professors, it is money. Lack of money limits social time, academic time, and any other sort of free time. Some people do not make enough money over the summer, and are forced to work during the school year. This is something that is vital to his or her success at school because of all of the financial requirements that they must meet, and James Madison University is making it even harder for students with financial problems. Books, meal plans, and parking tickets put a major dent in all students" funds. James Madison should not aim to squeeze every ounce of money from its students because it is affecting academic success through an increase in tension and concern. .
Books are a necessity, and yet JMU insists in charging ridiculous amounts of money for them. Also, every time that a student tries to sell their books back he or she will most likely get about thirty percent of what they had paid for them four months earlier. And when those books reach the shelf for the next semester, the price is at least twice of what they had bought them back for. Maybe that would be normal in a pawn shop but not at a university bookstore. JMU pays for books once, and continues to make money off of them year after year. Books consistently empty wallets every single semester. But there are some alternatives. Students can buy their books at the off campus bookstore, The Outpost, for much cheaper. Also students can often trade or sell books with each other, or use online bookstores such as EFollett.