Throwing the Book at Them

Why you’re being forced to spend so much on textbooks.

By Ben Waxman, Juniata College

Many college freshmen will be in for a nasty surprise this week when they take their first college course syllabi to the campus bookstore. They will be horrified to discover that the handful of books required for just one class may set them back hundreds of dollars. For upperclassman, this is already old news, and they’ve either wearily resigned themselves to it or devised complicated strategies to get through courses without buying every book. A full-course load often means spending upwards of $500 per semester on assigned readings. A Government Accountability Office study found the average was $900 per year for the 2003-2004 academic year. The report also found that between 1986 and 2004 textbooks prices increased an average of six percent per year, well above the rate of inflation. And students studying hard sciences like biology or chemistry often have to shell out over $100 for a single text book.

Why are prices so high? First, publishers restrict the used book market by constantly publishing new editions of each book. Since professors often require students to have the most recent edition of any textbook, the used copies from last year become relatively worthless. The new edition might be worthwhile if it had new material, but most changes are usually minor and cosmetic. This squashes the used book market and artificially inflates prices, even though 87 percent of professors say they prefer including new information in a supplement instead of producing a new textbook edition.

Another tactic used by the textbook industry to make books more expensive is called "bundling." Textbooks are filled with all kinds of useless bells and whistles to justify high prices. These include CD-ROMs, workbooks, and a variety of other add-ins that most professors rarely use. These supplements are supposed to enrich the educational experience, but are little more than a way to enrich textbook companies.

The textbook industry claims that high prices are justified because text books are expensive to produce. This is true, but there is much that publishers could do to make books less expensive for consumers. The easiest thing to do would be to allow students to download textbooks directly from a centralized website. This would save tremendously on both printing and distribution. By allowing access to electronic copies, publishers can sell directly to technologically savvy students; many of them, such as are beginning to do.

Some students need hard copies of assigned reading. But textbook publishers can make these cheaper as well. Some companies, like Thomason Learning, Harper Collins, and Houghton Mifflin have already begun issuing “no frills” copies of text books. These have soft covers and use a much lighter binding. These low-cost textbooks might not be flashy, but they are adequate.

So professors can help control textbook costs in a variety of ways. First, they can make sure that textbooks for their courses are offered online and in a “no-frills” version. If a publisher does not offer these options, professors can threaten to take their business elsewhere. Professors should also be lenient in allowing students to use older editions, which would open up the used book market.

Professors and students should not be the only people fighting for affordable textbooks. More than a million college students attend public universities that are financed by tax dollars. It’s time for our government officials to take action. A good first step would be to require campus bookstores at publicly funded schools to carry books that have both electronic and “no frills” editions. These requirements would force the textbook industry to start creating low-cost options. According to James v. Koch, professor of economics and president emeritus at Old Dominion University, and recognized expert on the subject, the other steps schools should take is to ensure that professors know the price of the books they order, which they often don’t, and that they institute rental systems, whereby students can rent and return books each year for less than the cost of buying them.

Higher education is an important investment in our collective future. Financial barriers exist for many potential students, and textbooks are no small part of the equation. Inflated prices should have no place in the realm of higher education. Professors, institutions of higher education, and publishing companies should work to make this aspect of college more affordable.

 
Ben Waxman is a student at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA. He can be reached at benwaxman@gmail.com.

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