Every new semester begins painfully. If you return the previous semester’s textbooks something never seems right — how did hundreds of dollars of paper devolve into $10 so quickly?

Thankfully the government is looking out for student interests, and this upcoming July, a federal law will reflect that.

While many books can be purchased online, there often isn’t enough time to get something ordered and shipped before the start of the semester. And even though some professors post the required readings in the description of the course, it doesn’t seem like that is the case for more than a quarter of all classes.

At Binghamton, we are given two options of where to buy our books — the University Bookstore or Mando Books — and there are only two options of how much we pay — an unreasonable amount or an outrageous one.

At long last, members of the government have caught wind of our troubles, and have enacted a legal provision that will hopefully make our empty wallets, due to textbook purchasing, yesterday’s problem. According to the American Council on Education Textbook Forum, the Higher Education Opportunity Act will make the textbook system fairer for students, as teachers will now be required to post book requirements well in advance of the class. This will provide us time to shop around more, in search of the best price. Also, those wonderful, shrink-wrapped book packages only available through the bookstores will no longer be allowed; students will be sold books in the same way the publisher cranks them out.

I’m surprised it has taken this long for such a law to be passed because outrage is generated twice every semester — once when buying books and once when selling them back for pennies on the dollar. It’s safe to say that any time I have to visit the bookstore or Mando’s, I leave cursing.

While this new law will not be the cure-all for the textbook problem, it will surely be helpful in easing the pain. In the past, I have felt like I’ve been lining the wallets of two stores that only take advantage, and certainly don’t need the money as much as we do.

Hopefully when I graduate and come back to visit in the years to come, I’ll pass by the University Bookstore and see smiling faces on line at the cash registers. But in the meantime, keep an eye out next year for a slightly decreasing amount of frowns.