Barnes & Noble Lines Pricetags By The Bookshelves With Care

BOSTON – Twas the night before classes, when all through the storeRetailers were ready to make students pay moreWith book rentals marked by implausible feesTo prove education is nothing near free.The semester is starting, some fresh classes nigh,Used books removed, and “new” book markups high.With three digit price tags placed on their seamsWhile visions of dollar signs danced in clerks’ dreamsSchemes long established, such dubious games,That students for decades can shout them by name:“Now, tacky quiz-clickers, used only one time!On, ‘required’ readings, never assigned!”Exclaimed the professors with increased commissionsBy selling their own overpriced first editions!“You know how it works, you fell for it last Fall,Now cash away! Cash away! Your cash away, all!”Our spirits, how they dwindled! Our prospects, so glum!Book bought for some hundreds, returned for a crumb!A foul get-rich system that BU finds funny,Shaking with laughter, like a bowl full of money.The doors sprang open, the students poured in,Barnes & Noblemen smiled from the the cavern within,Their whispers were heard as our totals accrued:“Welcome to college, where your wallets get screwed!”