A Conversation on Textbook Costs

New federal regulations aimed at textbook pricing practices went into effect this month, as reported in a previous post. Publishers must now "unbundle" college textbooks from accompanying materials such workbooks and CDs, allowing them to be purchased separately. The publishers' representatives must also tell faculty members how much a textbook costs when they make a sales pitch—a practice designed to make sure professors are aware of what students will have to pay if the book is adopted.

But why exactly are textbooks so expensive? The rate of increase has apparently been way above the annual inflation rate.

A number of diagnoses are available from a recent online "conversation" in the New York Times. For instance, one commentator ascribes the problem to student loans, which involves "easy" money and few complaints about rate hikes from students. Another thinks the whole problem is exaggerated, especially since students increasingly buy or rent their books online these days.

To gather information, many policy makers (who get bombarded with complaints) simply survey the cost of books in the college bookstore, which may not be the most accurate appraisal technique. Lawmakers also rely heavily on student testimony, which tends to be highly critical of textbook costs and the number of required texts.

According to some media reports, instructors in certain fields are using the Internet for all assignments, eliminating the need for buying any books at all.

The titles of the NYT contributions and the authors are:

• Little Incentive to Control Costs, Robert Applebaum, ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com
• The Faux Value of E-Texts, Byron W. Brown, Economist, Michigan State University
• How Students Really Buy Books, Eric Weil, Student Monitor
• Get Rid of Print and Go Digital, Anya Kamenetz, author, DIY U
• A Small Expense, Overall, Bruce Hildebrand, Association of American Publishers
• Like the Pharmaceutical Market, James Koch, economics professor
• The $100 Biology Book, Charlotte Allen, writer

The online respondents to these comments often make the most interesting reading. You may also find some valuable insights in how to save your students some serious money. Here's the link.

Comments

[marcos molina]

check out a great session by Eric King, Flat World Knowledge from TCCTA's convention 2010 about a possible new way for books to be published:
http://txpod.org/resource_detail.php?id=846
[if new to the Network, you'll have to register first, but it is free for anyone.]