Turning the page on textbooks

Rob,

Thanks for this update on the textbook saga, and with Pluto being reclassified a wave of new texts will likely be required of students. Yesterday I heard the founder of Tree of Life Bookstores speak to our faculty group—addressing these very issues. This upstart company already has several campuses, and in large part because it aggressively seeks to keep prices low, and also offers the various alternatives from renting to e-books, and even running constant Amazon and e-bay checks to make sure they’re offering the best deals (and at times buys from these sources). On the one hand, books are a small percentage of the overall cost for college—yet the fulcrum of much of the learning. For privates, the percentage is minimal. And, for publics with increasing fees like IU, it’s becoming the same. One thing for certain with this millennial group—they’ll find the best prices and ream professors requiring books of poor quality or books rarely utilized. Coming from a first-generation poor family, any cost for a book was too high. I think I owned a paperback copy of “The Outsiders” and that was it when entering college—and thankfully the Pell was more potent and helped me to navigate the costs. Our economically-challenged students are in much different places. Perhaps we need to offer huge reserve piles of book at our libraries. College students can opt not to buy books, and thus the focus on prices, but if they want to attend a certain college they can’t opt to avoid the tuition ticket. The Tree of Life owner made a clever analogy yesterday—buying books is similar to getting a speeding ticket and having the policeman/woman inform you that you could have been given $150 ticket but instead are getting only a $120 ticket. It still is more than you wanted to spend. The misinformation of the “average book price” article set a rather negative tone for parents this year for many of my colleagues—and reminds me of the power of the press. Thanks for the clarification, I’ll send it to our faculty. JP

Jerry Pattengale, AVP for Scholarshipand Grants at Indiana Wesleyan University, at 6:15 am EDT on August 29, 2006

Bookstores Need for Greed

When a professor orders a textbook which has a publisher’s suggested retail cost of $42.95, and by the time it is put on the bookstore shelf and into the students hands the cost is up to $68.00, there is a real problem with that picture.

Colleges needs to retake control over their bookstores and stop subcontracting the services to for-profit companies, all to get a small proceed check donated to the institution.

Bookstores get bulk discounts, yet they never seem to pass that savings along to the students.

I find it most interesting that at two state institutions where I teach, each of whom used the same B & N Bookstore company, the same textbook I ordered for the students cost less than the suggested retail cost at the innercity institution, and where I am now where greed and spin is the norm, the book costs $26.00 more. There is really something wrong with this picture.

Professor Tellitlikeitis, Kean University, at 8:15 am EDT on August 29, 2006

Book pricing from the “inside”

Take a survey of major text publishing empires’ websites of any intro-level text, and you’ll routinely find high suggested list prices (normally well over $50 a book), when and if these empires choose to designate a price. Then visit smaller publishing houses’ sites, many of these houses still independent and not driven by valuing shareholder value, and prices are remarkably reasonable (i.e., under $50 a book). Great books still; just not having to pack in all the overhead of the major houses into the final price of the book. ($25,000+ travel budgets for EACH editor and marketing manager and sales rep—count ‘em, there are hundreds!—and you see one important reason for major houses’ book pricing, not to mention the million-dollar biannual sales meetings where these hundreds of people descend upon some seasonable resort town!) Sure, there are cheaper ebook options proffered by the empires—sometimes—but rarely for the major intro books whose revisions (every 3 years don’t forget!) sustain the empires’ hold on the market. No wonder there’s so much free swapping of texts among folks in the major houses: though most are overpaid, do you think they’re crazy enough to pay the high prices they’re charging?

The Insider, at 8:55 am EDT on August 29, 2006

Need for Greed?

While I don’t disagree with Professor Tellitlikeitis’s assertion that privately operated, for profit college bookstores may have slightly higher textbook prices, there is much more to the story than your campus bookstore. Having worked in the campus bookstore industry for more than 20 years, I can tell you that there is simply not much your bookstore can do to lower the cost of textbooks, short of supplying more used books. College textbooks rarely have a “suggested list price” they are all net priced from the publisher, leaving the list price up to the bookstore. However, according to the National Association of College Stores, the average margin on new textbooks has been around 22% for more than 6 years. A 22% average margin is lower than almost every other industry. http://www.nacs.org/public/research/margins.asp Aditionally, there is not any bulk discounts on textbooks from the publishers, the unit cost is the same regardless of quantity ordered. Almost without exception, every bookstore manager at an institutionally operated campus bookstore is working hard every day to reduce the cost of textbooks for their students. Faculty can help them by submitting their textbook adoptions early (this allows your bookstore a longer period of time to search fro used books) and also to consider the price of the textbook when making the adoption decision, and let your publisher sales representative know that you consider price important.

Karl, at 9:00 am EDT on August 29, 2006

Used Textbooks & Total cost

No one has factored in the large amount of money that most students get back when they sell their textbooks back to the bookstore. Subtract that from what they paid and most students pay far less that the costs being bandied around.

It’s easy to make scapegoats of the bookstore and publisher. How about holding the faculty and administrators accountable for their contribution to the high cost of a college education?

I’ve published THE TEXTBOOK DILEMMA: A Comprehensive Analysis on my Website but have had few comments or reacitons to the 12 page white paper. I guess it’s easier to remain uneducated about the economics of the college textbook market and blame others.

Harold ( Hal) Ball, Collegiate & Management Resources, at 10:35 am EDT on August 29, 2006

The test book industry needs to come into the twenty first century. There is no reason to produce hard copies and sell them in book stores. The publishers could produce and distribute electronic copies for a fraction of the cost. They could license their electronic copies to universities. The universities could put these electronic copies on line in a password protected site and add the cost to tuition for that particular course. Students could read the text on line or print it off. This would also prevent the perennial problems of book shortages at the beginning of the semester.

James, at 10:50 am EDT on August 29, 2006

Textbooks

The tone of so many messages already received is one of hysteria. The costs of a college education (tutition, student fees, dorm rooms, food, PARKING) also go up. Have you weighed the cost of textbooks (even at $650-$900 per year) versus other costs, on a percentage basis? Attending college is often a financial sacrifice. Period.

Many of us would rather pay upfront for decent textbooks and good professors and reap the financial rewards from a good education via a decent job than be shortchanged early on, then not be competitive in the job market.

Karl, the former bookstore employee, is a voice of reason in the sea of groaning and moaning of the other messages. Also, Hal Ball’s comment has validity: faculty and administrators are accountable for their contribution to the high cost of college education.

One last thought: used book companies that “buy” books from professors are leeches on the traditional publishing industry. Finding, developing, editing, publishing, marketing and distributing any book (trade or text) is costly. Calculating the extra costs to be absorbed as a result of used book companies adds to your students’ textbook costs.

bookmonster, at 12:35 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

High cost of textbooks

Supply and demand will take care of this issue soon. As families realize that college is in many cases no longer a value, interest rates on the loans used to finance it rise, and demographics change, colleges will begin to look for the most glaring expenses that don’t directly impact their bottom line. All costs will be carefully scrutinized. The high cost of textbooks will be low hanging fruit. Colleges will not risk attacks on salaries and benefits when they can make significant cuts by simply reducing the need for, or eliminating expensive textbooks. Families don’t care where the cuts come from, they just want the bleeding to stop. For those that believe history consists of the last 25 years, the crash that higher education will face in the next 5-10 will come as a shock. We are 5 years into a cycle of parents who have not ridden the gravy train of the 80’s and 90’s. For this group, the well has almost run dry. Discretionary expenses will be the first to go. And college is after all a discretionary expense.

MRE, at 12:50 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

Missing the point

It seems to me we should focus on the research of the group that determined books cost $900 per year. My guess is they decided on the outcome of the research before they even started, and look what their “research” determined: Books cost too much. That may well be true, but this is the state of research these days.... 1) decide what subject or business you want to go after or destroy, 2) determine the outcome you expect 3) force the “research” to prove your point.

Stan, at 2:20 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

A student perspective

During any given semester, of which I have now been through nine, I have spent roughly $350-$400 per semester on required textbooks. I’m a music major, and generally speaking, we don’t have nearly as many textbooks as other majors do since we tend to analyze musical scores in lieu of books. Many of my friends during my undergrad years were science or social science majors who would spend anywhere from $500-$700 per semester on required texts. One chemistry or psychology textbook alone would cost them $150-$200. As a student on a budget, with student loans and a part-time job, I can tell you that the financial burden placed on me by textbooks has been substantial, and makes it hard to make ends meet for the first few months of each semester. Textbook cost is the number one complaint I’ve heard from other students at the beginning of each semester. This is clearly not an official study with official statistics, but a general concensus of students I have known. One person earlier on the board stated that others seemed to be ignoring the textbook buyback programs that occur at the end of each semester. To give you an example of the amount that students are given back, last semester I spent $175 on a music history textbook and the accompanying music cds. When I sold then back at the end of the year, I was given about $20 in return. That is only if you are allowed to sell them back. Many times the books that students spent the most on can’t be sold back because the textbook publishers came out with a new edition (that has hardly changed). The students try to stem the costs of these overpriced textbooks any way they can; usually by selling them to other students, but this still runs into the “edition” problem. It would be a huge financial relief to students if publishing companies and campus bookstores could work together on making the prices more reasonable.

kgn, Graduate Student at University of Colorado, at 4:45 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

Textbook{Bound}

I am a current student at a 2yr school. Buying books is a HUGE problem for me considering how expensive they are. So it seems to odd to me when i read an article stating that the price of textbooks aren’t really that bad. Besides paying for the courses, why do you think so many students are forced to work 40 hours a week while maintaining 12-18hrs of school? Too many students and even parents of students struggle with the rising expense of books, yet that doesn’t seem to be proof enough that cost is still unreasonable. Here is my example to illustrate ONE of my frustrations:After paying for my computer aided math class, I am informed that I have to spend another $100 for the books and software license. The software is not compatible with my home system at all. This is a completely uncalled for!

Emily, StLCC-Meremec, at 5:30 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

Textbooks

kgn— excellent perspective from a grad student.

I agree that the comment from Hal Ball is way over the top (e.g., “No one has factored in the large amount of money that most students get back when they sell their textbooks back to the bookstore")... I’m not sure what system Hal is operating in but again, as a past college administrator, faculty member, and one-time student, “large amount” of money for returning a used textbook is unheard of ....

In fact, as you already pointed out, the bookstore sells textbooks to unsuspecting students at ridiculously inflated prices —and the bookstore knows before putting those texts on the shelf, that those textbooks won’t even be accepted back by the bookstore —not even for a dime!

The textbook industry is not in the 21st century as pointed out by James but it is clearly comfortable with it’s untouchable position as structured back in the good ol’days sponsored by the good ol’ boys.

Kudos to those instructors that make the extra effort to circumvent the textbook dance and direct their students to the infinite amount of other resources available -for free or reduced costs— that offer equal, if not better information integral to a quality education.

Michael, at 5:30 pm EDT on August 29, 2006

Disruptive Technology

Overseas, textbooks represent a much larger portion of a student’s costs — especially in “developing” countries like China or India or a developed country like Australia. With the higher relative cost and yet less sophisticated, possibly “obsolete” textbooks, these nation’s academic institutions turn out graduates who certainly compete with and sometimes exceed the end product of US tertiary education. This suggests that there is little value added to the American student’s educational outcome by the consumption of late model fully loaded optionally-equipped high- cost glossy textbooks.

The prices should come down. Otherwise, soon some enterprising foreign student will return to his native home in one of the newly independent “xxxxSTANS", some nation without copyright, and then he will promptly digitize the latest copy of Samuelson for a nominal download fee. The textbook publishing industry and the university will have a hard time claiming copyright infringement in a nation with no copyright statute. Just one more instance of the web as a disruptive technology.

Bruce Harvey, at 5:50 am EDT on August 30, 2006

Can an adjunct instructor afford to compile his or her own materials (at $20-something per teaching hour)? A good textbook, with resource materials, is invaluable to these instructors.

Every semester, students whine about textbook costs. Some do not buy one “until my next paycheck” and fall hopelessly behind in work. My college charges about $300 tuition for a class and $100 for a textbook. I WISH they would charge $400 per class and give the student a “free” textbook. Syudents would all have abook on time and complaints would plummet.

A Teacher, at 1:50 pm EDT on August 30, 2006

The 21st Century is Digital

As an alternative publisher, our experience has been that students are comfortable with the digital nature of the 21st century. Instructors should be aware that publishers such as ourselves are creating interactive digital content that students can see, hear and experiment with instead of just read. Our interactive digital physics textbooks start at $24.95, a far cry lower than a print textbook and many instructors report increased interest in the subject. There are alternatives out there. One question might be how to validate the quality of the material on a large scale basis to provide competition with the mental and channel stranglehold the print textbook publishers have created.

Mark Bretl, Kinetic Books, at 3:15 pm EDT on August 30, 2006

Stop student exploitation

Frankly, there shouldn’t be a debate about whether the annual cost of textbooks for the average student is $900 or $650, because one way or the other it’s outrageous. The discrepency in cost is a mere $125 per semester, equalling the purchase of one book.

As a student of English Literature, I’m always buying books for school as well as my own enjoyment, and it never ceases to amaze me that the price of antholoogies, such as the ones published by Norton, are easily double the price of those found in any local bookstore. The textbook publishers are actively exploiting students, and it needs to end.

Drew Hazouri, COPIRG Student Chapters Campus Chair at University of Colorado at Denver, at 7:25 pm EDT on August 30, 2006

textbook costs

How about desk copies? No one has mentioned how the free distribution of desk copies impacts the final cost of a textbook. I, personally, knew a prof. several years ago who claimed 8 research/teaching assistants and regularly requested desk copies for each of them. Wow! talk about driving up costs. Now let’s sell those free books to a wholesaler and take our annual vacation (which is exactly what he did). Let’s place some blame on the profs. who abuse the system. They are not blameless but are among the first to decry the price of books. It might be wise to spread the blame over the whole realm and not just blame the bookstores or the publishers.

Melidna, at 2:01 pm EDT on April 8, 2007