College students struggle to find ways to buy books cheaply as the prices continue to rise

By Neal O’Doherty

EASTON —Tuition costs are no longer the only economical strain on college students these days. Textbook prices are soaring higher than ever.
No matter where you go to school, or how much the tuition at that school is, the cost of your books — depending on your major — can be $1,000 or more.
“I stopped buying textbooks after my sophomore year. They were just getting to expensive and a lot of times, teachers don’t even use them. Textbooks are just a way for professors to make money. I have had teachers who write the textbook, make you buy it for $300, and then never open the book once,” Greg Sanzari, senior at Stonehill College in Easton said.
Some students don’t have that option.
Bridgewater State College senior Erica Snyder spends about $500 to $700 a semester, and does not see an end in sight.
“Because I am in the process of becoming an athletic trainer, I need every book that I have for all of my classes. The worst part about it is that I can’t sell them back at the end of the semester. These are all books that I am going to want to add to my professional library once I get out of school,” Snyder said.
Snyder isn't the only one struggling to pay for books.
According to the Government Accountability Office, textbook prices have been rising at double the rate of inflation in the past 20 years.
To beat the costs, many students have come up with their own unique ways of getting books.
“My sister graduated from Stonehill last year, and I am a senior at Stonehill this year. Both of us are communications majors, so in order to save money on books, the two of us purchased all the books that my sister needed together, she would use them, and then give them to me once she was done with them. The only time this hasn’t worked out was when the teachers changed the books. Then we shared the price of the new textbook,” Becca Honohan, senior at Stonehill College, said.
Some students find it is easier to buy their books on line.
“During my sophomore year of college, my friend told me that I could buy my books on line, so I figured I would give it a shot. That was the best idea I ever had. Not including shipping and handling, I was able to walk away spending under $100 for an entire semester. Some of my books cost under a dollar,” Allison Foley, graduate student at Bridgewater State College, said.
Others say that find ways to sell their books on their own, rather than selling them back to the bookstore.
“Most schools have a way that you can e-mail the entire student body. I always manage to sell my books on there. Most students are willing to give you more money than the college bookstore would, and they will save money on the price the bookstore would charge them. Everybody wins,” Greg Borsari, senior at Bridgewater State College, said.

Student Athletes: Not All Fun and Games

By Elizabeth O'Hara

It’s eight o’clock on a Monday night and the girl’s soccer game hasn’t even reached halftime. Even before the scheduled 7 p.m. game, the girls remained at the school eating for energy and strategizing for a win.
“I leave for school at five of seven every day. If I have practice, I won’t get home until 5:30. If I have a game, it may be as late as nine or ten at night,” said Jess DeLory, a Hanover High School athlete.
Between school, sports, and in some cases a job, student athletes have a lot on their plate.
“To be a student athlete, you must have a good sense of time management and self discipline,” said Whitman-Hanson girl’s varsity soccer coach, David Floeck.
Being a student athlete comes with a lot of responsibility. Generally, a student athlete is expected not only to set a good example in school and on the field, but also in the community.
“The players are also citizens of the community and are expected to set a good example. If not, that one person would reflect poorly on the whole team,” Floeck said.
In addition to school and community rules, a coach will typically set his or her own standards that the players must abide by. They may range from respecting your opponent, to getting a tutor for the math class you’re flunking.
With rules, come consequences. Some students are not able to handle so many expectations and find themselves facing the wrath of their coach.
“Really, they stand to lose more,” said Floeck.
If a student is in trouble academically, they may be required to attend a tutoring session during practice time. If a student finds themselves in other types of trouble, they may find themselves facing suspension or even expulsion from the team.
“It’s all really hard to manage,” said DeLory, the athlete.
As the assistant principal of Whitman-Hanson, Floeck does not typically see many problems with student athletes, though there are some.
“Usually the athletes are good students who want to do well and don’t create problems,” said Floeck.
A report released by the NCAA in October found that 79 percent of students who entered college in the fall of 2001 graduated within six years. This is an all time high.
“Our athletic director always says that we’re student athletes. Student always comes first,” said DeLory.
It is not always so easy.
“I had no time and was too tired to care about my homework,” said Allison O’Hara of her freshman year playing junior varsity soccer at Whitman-Hanson.
Learning to juggle your time may be considered an art for some.
“If you don’t have a system that works for you, then find a teammate who does and is willing to help,” suggested Floeck.
Because of the time commitment and focus on discipline, some high schools have considered giving credit to those students who participate in a sport.
The Board of Education in Texas approved a bill that will give athletes enough credits toward graduation for their participation in sports, so that they would only be required to take one elective class during high school.
It is an idea that not many embrace.
“I don’t think that is right. It’s more important to get those classes in and be well rounded than to focus on athletics,” said Serina Pen, a former Abington High School student.
This plan only includes student athletes, leaving out those who participate in clubs or other after school activities that require great time commitment.
“The discussion always comes up, but what about the kids who participate in band and other clubs? It would create an almost, elitist atmosphere,” said Floeck.
Receiving credit from athletics would replace some academic learning.
“I do not feel that playing a sport should give you credit for an academic class. They are both important, but different,” said Jim Daley, athletic director at Whitman-Hanson.
Even with such a hectic lifestyle, student athletes say that the benefits of playing are countless. These include physical fitness, camaraderie, pride, spirit, and self discipline. And although it all may be hard to handle, sometimes the benefits outweigh the negatives, DeLory said.
“It’s hard work but I love my team. No way would I leave,” DeLory said.

The Facebook Domination

By Leah Weiss

The ultimate social networking site, Facebook, has taken over the Internet in only a few short years, and is beginning its takeover of social lives across the globe.

“I spend about an hour and a half everyday, generally looking for bumper stickers (an application) or looking through my friends pictures and profiles. It becomes very addicting,” Stonehill College freshman Katherine Healey said.

That is what the millions of Facebook users worldwide are finding.

According to statistics from the Facebook.com pressroom, the social networking site now has 120 million active users with an average of 250,000 new registrations per day. Needless to say, there are plenty of profiles to peruse on a daily basis.

“Sometimes it keeps me from getting work done, it’s a good form of procrastination, but I do try really hard not to let it get in the way,” Healey said.

People spent an average of 20 minutes on Facebook daily, according to comScore Inc. in 2007.

With over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks, it is easy to reconnect with long lost friends and family by just clicking a button.

"I love the way Facebook keeps me interacted and connected with all of my friends, I use it at least 30 minutes daily," University of Virginia freshman Peter Szeremeta said.

Facebook has become the new way to stay involved in the lives of friends and family that are further than a phone call away.

Just below Internet giants Google and YouTube, Facebook is now the sixth most trafficked site in the United States, according to statistics from comScore. However, still above Facebook in the ranks, is Myspace, another social networking site.

Myspace may have slightly more visitors per day, but Facebook is all the rage on college campuses.

“Myspace became too creepy with the older people and the more sexual nature that just doesn’t exist on Facebook. I have my Facebook set to specific privacy settings so only my friends can see my pictures and profile, so I just feel safer on it,” Healey said.

There’s always a risk when posting personal information on any website, but Facebook has found a way to make its users feel more protection from predators that roam the World Wide Web.

A common term among Facebook users is “creeping,” Healey said. It is looking through someone’s profile without his or her knowledge, and viewing who has written on the wall or what pictures they have been tagged in.

It is the norm among today’s Facebook users.

There are different reasons why people are drawn to social networking sites like Facebook, Stonehill College psychology professor Rita DeOliveira said.

“At first, people tend to go on because they are curious or they want to see what everyone else is talking about, then they get persuaded by others to stay on the site and create their own profile. This gives them a sense of belonging and importance. It's an easy way to communicate with many people; especially people one would never have communicated with were it not for Facebook or any other site,” DeOliveira said.

Communicating with people on Facebook is not as personal as sending a text message, and much less confrontational, Stonehill freshman Shannon Clancy said.

Facebook breaks down social barriers and allows users to converse freely with “friends”, usually acquaintances, that they have acquired on the site.

“In some cases, people have social anxiety and interacting via the computer is more comfortable and not as anxiety provoking, people feel more at ease to express themselves. For some people, it then becomes an addiction where they feel compelled to be social networking,” DeOliveira said.

A 15-year-old’s Fight Against Cancer

By Kristina Maimonis


Three years ago, Laura Bentley, then a 15-year-old from Cromwell Conn., fought the hardest battle of her life.

It started the night of the father-daughter dance at Mercy High School in Middletown, Conn. Bentley felt excruciating stomach and back pains so her father rushed her immediately to the emergency room at Middlesex Hospital.

After hours of testing, the doctors were unable to find the cause of her pain. Finally, on November 22, 2005, one week after the onset of her symptoms, the doctors performed a biopsy and diagnosed Bentley with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I had no idea what that was,” Bentley said. “Finally, my Dad told me it was cancer and all I did was start crying.”

Each year, more than 66,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are diagnosed in the US. The five year survival rates for this disease in patients of Bentley’s age have increased steadily since 1975, reaching 90 percent in 2005.

Bentley immediately began intensive chemotherapy the following day because her tumors were so aggressive. She was allowed to return home for one last night before spending the next three weeks in the hospital.

“When I heard I had to stay for three weeks I thought, ‘What about school? What about my life,’” Bentley said. “Little did I know that the road ahead was going to be more than just three weeks in the hospital.”

That next morning, Bentley started her therapy. She felt sick all week and couldn’t remember much.

“What was even worse was the next day, I had to get a central line put in my chest,” Bentley said.

This central line had to be placed into a hole surgically opened in her chest.

“It was very traumatizing, especially during the dressing changes,” she said. “Every time the nurses would change it I felt sick to my stomach, but by the end, I could do it by myself.”

Traditionally, the Bentley family would gather at their home in Connecticut to celebrate Thanksgiving. That year, they celebrated Thanksgiving in her hospital room and even Laura’s extended family showed up.

After Thanksgiving, Bentley began an even more severe round of chemotherapy. Her red blood cell count had fallen to 4.2 percent when the average for a girl her age is 13 percent.

Bentley was then told she needed to have a plasmapheresis procedure which required her to go to the intensive care unit. Here, she had to have an additional line placed in the largest artery in her groin.

“It felt like someone had taken a pen and stabbed it into me because the catheter was so stiff that you couldn’t even sit. Your choices were to either lie down or stand, but I was too weak to stand so I had to lie down,” she said.

Christmas was now approaching and Bentley was worried she would have to spend her favorite holiday in the hospital. She was able to make it home just before Christmas Eve.

This was the first time Bentley had left the hospital since November. “I didn’t even know that it had snowed,” she said.

Bentley said being home was wonderful! “It was so nice to finally sleep in my own bed without being woken up,” she said, “and just having the comforts of my own home.”

“The best thing of all was the privacy,” she said. “At the hospital, if my mom or dad wasn’t in my room, it was either a doctor, nurse, resident, intern or someone.”

Christmastime though, soon became a struggle for her. Her hair had just begun to fall out.
“It killed me to see the pain in my child’s face when chunks of her hair would fall out onto her jacket or on her shirt,” said Mrs. Joanne Bentley, Laura’s mother.

Bentley’s first wig was a hip hat, which was then followed by a straight brown haired wig and then a third, blonde wig. These wigs were all such different looks from her brunette curls.

After the Christmas season, Bentley returned to the hospital for more procedures. She needed more medicine, Methotrexate, a type of chemotherapy that kills all reproducing cells.

Bentley suffered severe mouth irritation and found out that she was allergic to morphine, a common pain killer. “If I had to list the top three most painful things that happened to me they would be my initial stomach pains, the catheter in my groin, and the mouth sores,” Bentley said.
Bentley’s first negative PET scan came late in January, which showed no more active cancer cells in her body. It was exciting news but still forced more months of chemotherapy.

Bentley’s last inpatient chemo was on April 3, 2006 which was supposed to be her hospital release date but she contracted pneumonia and had to return once again to the hospital.

After a two week recovery, Laura returned for the last two months of school. “In those last two months, I did the best I had ever done in my high school career,” Bentley said.

She spent the summer hanging out with her friends and spending a lot of time with her family. “I just wanted to be a normal kid again,” she said.

Junior and senior year, Bentley ran a blood drive at her high school. She talked to all of the students about giving blood and informed them of why it was important.

“I couldn’t believe how happy she was considering what she had gona through,” said Katie Pearson, Bentley’s best friend. “She never stopped smiling.”

Bentley also organized the relay for life team for her high school and participated in a Radiothon for Connecticut Childrens’ Medical Center.

Her life had returned to normal as she finished high school disease free. Bentley eventually won the Connecticut Childrens’ Medical Center scholarship and is now a freshman at Stonehill College.

Bentley said she appreciates the small things in life now; she loves her hair, being able to shower, and sleep through the night. She is grateful for her family and friends and has built even stronger relationships with them all.

“It’s funny how one minute you can be having a great time dancing with your father at a school dance, and then the next minute something can happen that changes your life forever,” Bentley said.

Maine Youth Exodus

By Lindsey Pinkham

Andria LaRoche, a junior at Wheaton College hopes to make a career out of motivational speaking and athletics when she graduates in the spring of 2010.

She left her home in rural Skowhegan, Maine for Wheaton College in Norton hoping it would offer her more opportunity.

“There is a lot more opportunity in the Boston area than at home,” LaRoche said.
The search for better opportunity is what is sending most of Maine’s educated youth out of state and many are coming to Massachusetts.

Around 50 percent of Maine’s high school graduates are leaving the state in search of better higher education and job opportunities, according to a study by the Finance Authority of Maine and the Center for Education Policy at the University of Southern Maine.

This outpour of educated youth has provoked the theory of the “brain drain,” which could leave the state with a mass of uneducated and unskilled workers, drastically stunting the economy.

According to a study done by the University of Maine, 50,000 people aged 15-25 years have left the state over the past two decades. That’s almost a quarter of the youth population.

Brad Beauregard is a junior at the University of Maine from Skowhegan who hopes to leave the state upon graduation.

“I want to leave mostly because opportunities, in any real form, don’t exist in Maine,” Beauregard said.

In Aroostook County, Maine’s largest and most northern county, almost a third of students surveyed by the Maine Leadership Consortium in grades 6-12 believe they will need to leave the state in order to be successful.

There has been much evidence suggesting that Maine’s educated youth is leaving the state, resulting in a “brain drain.” This theory hasn’t been backed by sufficient facts but there is certainly evidence of the brain drain found in rural areas of the state.

Michelle Pinkham, an employee at Redington Fairview General Hospital in rural Skowhegan, Maine, says it’s been difficult to find qualified people to fill positions.

“A lot of these students coming out of medical school have high student loans to pay. They can’t make the money here that they could make in the bigger cities to pay off these loans and this is important while they’re thinking about starting a family,” Pinkham said.

A graduate of Skowhegan High School, Zara Saydjari, decided to leave the state and attend the University of Michigan to study pre-medicine. Her father was one of the two surgeons in the Skowhegan area for twenty years. Saydjari says she left Maine and doesn’t plan to go back after medical school.

“[The Maine] economy is weak. It’s hard for a doctor in a rural area. I plan on going to a bigger city to start my career,” Saydjari said.

A study by the Finance Authority of Maine found the youth exodus to be much less a threat than previously thought.

Although the youth exodus, especially of educated youth, is alarming to Maine citizens, the actual migration across the state is normal compared to the rest of the nation. Young people are leaving the rural areas, such as Skowhegan, at an alarming rate, but some of them are going to Maine cities like Portland and even Bangor.

The study found also that 50 percent of college graduates chose to stay in Maine, while much of the half that chose not to stay were originally from out of state. Graduates in the study said family, cultural and social ties were reasons to stay in state while opportunities, pay and benefits lured them elsewhere.

One participant reported that staying in Maine was not affordable because the high cost of paying back student loans.

The Finance Authority of Maine concluded that a plan which would persuade the graduates to stay in Maine and fill spots in the work force, resulting in a boost of Maine’s economy.

Such a plan has since been drawn out and was implemented this year. The plan took the form of a program called Opportunity Maine after it began as a citizen’s initiative before it was passed unanimously by the state legislature.

Through Opportunity Maine, Maine college graduates are eligible for a tax credit on their student loans as long as they live and work in Maine.

“The number one reason that businesses expand is the education of workers. It points you in the direction if you’re trying to develop a state’s economy,” Rob Brown, director of Opportunity Maine, said.

The program offers incentive to work in Maine after graduation which will increase the number of educated workers, a vital ingredient to expanding businesses. With a better work force comes a better economy in the long haul.

For those that leave the state to find higher paying jobs with better benefits, being able to claim an income tax credit will alleviate the burden of debt and allow them to stay in Maine.

“It means as much for the low income single mom as it does for the laid-off mill worker as it does for the high school graduate,” Brown said.

Guitar Based Video Games A Double Edged Sword

By Greg Kerekes

Guitar Hero, a video game utilizing a guitar shaped controller which is popular among college students, is responsible for not only increasing record sales, but also increasing video games sales, although it may be hurting guitar sales.

Ryan McLaughlin, a resident of New York City and a guitar player for six years, thinks that Guitar Hero is fine as long as its players realize that it’s just a game.

“I actually used to work in a guitar shop and we got a lot of kids coming in that wanted to learn guitar because of it,” McLaughlin said. “The problem was that the only songs they knew were from the game and those songs which they wanted to learn were way too hard. So we'd start them on easier songs and they'd get bored and quit after three months.”

Released in 2005, Guitar Hero is a North American recreation of a Japanese game called GuitarFreaks. Since its release it has become widely popular among college students because of its large soundtrack of popular music.

“It has the songs I like,” Dan Newton, a student at Stonehill College, said. “The songs I like usually include copious guitar. An example would be Metallica. I have also learned that there were songs that I didn’t know about, which I had heard on the radio, and found in Guitar Hero and had fun playing.”

DragonForce, a speed metal band, became widely popular after a song of theirs was featured in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Digital sales of their song Through the Fire and Flames which was included in the game rose from 2,000 to 37,825 in a week.

“Guitar Hero introduced me to DragonForce,” Mike Dally, another student at Stonehill College, said. “Since then I’ve bought their albums and seen them in concert.”
According to the Music Trades Online Annual Census of the Music Industries, guitar sales in 2006, the year following Guitar Hero’s release, dropped 9.6 percent.

Jason Chapentier, an employee of Guitar Center in Warwick, RI, said that most newcomers choose to play Guitar Hero instead of a real guitar.

“They’re just wasting their time with [Guitar Hero],” Charpentier said. “You can’t do anything besides what the game tells you to do, so there’s no actual talent needed.”

Courtney Earle, also a student at Stonehill College and Guitar Hero player, said that she plays Guitar Hero because she can’t play the real guitar.

“I think it’s the fact that people can’t play the real guitar that they play Guitar Hero,” Earle said.
Anthony Noto, a resident of New York City and a guitar player for six and a half months, does not think that players of Guitar Hero are wasting their time not learning how to play a real guitar.

“I don’t think they’re wasting their time because it’s fun, plus it’s a lot cheaper,” Noto said.
Earle agrees with Noto that Guitar Hero players are not wasting their time.

“It’s the same as playing other video games,” Earle said. “If they weren’t playing that they’d just play another game.”

A guitar player for four years and resident of Warwick, RI, Robert Edwards, said that skill in Guitar Hero does not equate to skill on a real guitar.

“I don’t think [Guitar Hero] makes it easier,” Edwards said. “It just improves your coordination.”

Both McLaughlin and Edwards agree that Guitar Hero is good because it promotes an interest in the instrument.

“I'm all for getting people interested in the instrument,” McLaughlin said. “That's how new music is made. The problems always arise when people play the game and expect the instrument to be just as easy.”

Edwards’s support of Guitar Hero is a bit more Machiavellian.

“It’s a great thing,” Edwards said. “Anything that takes away from the rap community.”

Tom McKenney: Beating the Battle with Obesity

By Michael Farwell

“I used to ride on the bus in the morning and the kids would tell the bus driver to stop at Dunkin Donuts so I could get several thousand munchkins.”
Ten year old Tom McKenney was not your average fourth grader. Standing at 4 feet 10 inches tall while weighing in at a whopping 145 pounds, McKenney was often referred to as the human bowling ball.
“I was in the fourth grade at the elementary school in Canton, Mass when I started to put the weight on. I blame myself, you have free will. I also blame the daily mayo sandwiches, chips, ice cream, and my television; I spent hours watching the Magic School bus.”
McKenney was a perfect example of a common issue today in America; Childhood Obesity. According to The U.S. Childhood Disease Control Center 17 percent of America’s youth, ages 6 to 11 were considered obese. The obesity in ages from 12 to 17 also grew up to 17.6 percent. McKenney decided to not be a part of that percentage and decided to change.
“I looked like a young John Candy and used to eat those little cream shots you put in your coffee, it was disgusting.”
It was when McKenney returned to baseball, realizing that he didn’t want to be fat anymore. “I started daily exercises on this absurd machine in my basement that my Dad used to use. The machine was strange but it worked, I ended up losing 45 pounds in six months.”
He noticed more changes, lost weight and gained confidence. Today in the United States childhood obesity is a growing problem. With obesity come medical issues and many complications that can put a damper on the lives of the over-weight. Today the National Association of Children’s Hospitals said that “16 percent of children (over 9 million) 6-19 years old are overweight or obese -- a number that has tripled since 1980.” With obesity come other medical issues such as, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, High Blood Pressure, Liver Disease, and other unfortunate medical complications.
“There is a way out. I know that all of these studies have come out saying that obesity is genetic and for some people they cannot control it. Maybe that is the case for a few individuals but the majorities are overweight because of their habits. It is one thing to be out of shape; however, it is another to be overweight.”
"First of all, don’t quit Little League, stay active, play sports or do something. Do not sit around and be lazy, in the long run it isn’t worth it. I suffered countless hours of teasing due to my excessive weight. It is much easier to stay in shape and avoid the unwanted pounds, plus it is healthier for you.”
McKenney, now a Stonehill College sophomore plays intramural sports and heads to the gym at least four times a week. He eats healthy and continues to live a healthy lifestyle keeping off the weight that once plagued him.