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college textbook expense explained
Looking for explanation of textbook prices?
|
Why are college textbooks
so expensive?
With student and faculty complaints about
the price of college textbooks on the rise, the California Student
Public Interest
Research Group
(CALPIRG)', the
Oregon Student Public Interest
Research Group (OSPIRG) and the
OSPIRG Foundation conducted a survey of the most widely assigned
college textbooks in the fall of 2003 at 10 public colleges and
universities in California and Oregon.
Student volunteers
and staff also interviewed 156 faculty and 521 students about the
cost of college textbooks and their purchasing practices. Key
findings from this survey include:
College Textbooks are Expensive and
Getting Even More Expensive
-
College students will spend an average of
$898 per year on new and used textbooks in 2003-04, based on
surveys of University of California (UC) students in the fall of
2003. This represents almost 20 percent of the average tuition
and fees for in-state students at public four-year colleges
nationwide. In contrast, a 1997 UC survey found that students
spent an average of $642 on college textbooks in 1996-97.
College Textbooks Publishers Add Bells
and Whistles that Drive Up the Price of College Textbooks; Most
Faculty Do Not Use These Materials
-
Half of all college textbooks now come
"bundled," or shrink-wrapped with additional
instructional materials
such as
CD-ROMs
and
workbooks.
Students rarely have the option of buying the college textbooks
"a la carte" or without additional materials.
-
In the one instance that a college textbook
was available both bundled and unbundled (only the textbook),
the bundled version was more than twice as expensive as the
unbundled version of the same college textbook.
-
Sixty-five (65) percent of faculty "rarely"
or "never" use the bundled materials in their college courses.
College Textbooks Publishers Put New
Editions on the Market Frequently, Often With Very Few Content
Changes, Making the Less Expensive, Used College Textbooks
Obsolete and Unavailable
-
Seventy-six (76) percent of faculty report
that the new college
textbooks
editions they use are justified "never" to "half the time."
Forty (40) percent of faculty report that the new college
textbooks editions are "rarely" to "never" justified.
-
New college textbooks cost $102.44 on
average, 58 percent more expensive than the average price of
used textbooks, $64.80.
-
Fifty-nine (59) percent of college students
who searched for used textbooks for the fall 2003
quarter/semester were unable to find even one used textbook for
their classes.
The production and pricing of college textbooks
merits scrutiny from
educators
and
lawmakers
because they affect the quality and affordability of higher
education. As this report shows, the cost of college textbooks is
a growing expense for students. The high cost is primarily due to
publishers producing new textbook editions like clockwork,
regardless of how much new educational content exists, and
including expensive bells and whistles, such as CD-ROMs, that
professors rarely find useful. The more expensive new editions
force the older, less-expensive used textbooks off the market.
Publishers should produce more affordable,
quality college textbooks. They also should offer faculty and
students the option to purchase college textbooks unbundled and
provide faculty with more information on the company’s materials,
their prices, intended length of time on the market and
substantive content differences from previous textbook editions.
Faculty should use their decision-making power to demand substance
over bells and whistles and should consider cost and accessibility
of previous editions secondary only to educational value when
selecting college textbooks for their courses.
To view search
results about
textbook prices,
click here
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