Textbooks are pretty much universally needed for college courses so a professor telling the students that they have to purchase them is pretty widely accepted by most students and faculty alike. The question arises when the students are forced to go above and beyond the basic textbook and school supplies. Is it ethical to require students to dish out money just so that they can pass the class? The answer is no. You may think that this doesn't happen, not anymore anyway, we're no longer in elementary and middle school being forced to buy cookies to fund our art class. But it does still happen! My girlfriend is in a course in which it is required that she trains an animal over the course of 10 weeks. So in college, she lives in an apartment so a dog will require a pet free from where she lives. Not to mention the fact that she is in her last year and doesn't wish to get a dog just yet when her future is so up in the air right now. The same would apply to a cat or just about any other animal. So what is a student to do? She ended up getting a fish and at the end of the day, it cost her around $50 with all the supplies and food. So this class basically made her get a pet she didn't want, which isn't fair to her or the pet itself. Then what happens after the 10 weeks she needs the fish? She basically got a commitment in an attempt to simply pass the class. It just doesn't seem right. How can a class determine your grade on whether you are able to get a pet or not? What if you honestly can't afford one or have one where you live? What then? The point is, we already pay so much in tuition and books and living that it is utterly rediculous that someone would have to pay even more money just to have a chance to pass the class.