Affordable Higher Education News

ollege students pay an average of nearly $900 per year for textbooks and publishers engage in market practices that drive up the price, according to "Rip-off 101," a report released today by the state PIRGs' Higher Education Project.

"It's appalling that while students contend with rising college costs, textbook publishers are playing games to increase textbook prices," said University of Maryland student and MaryPIRG Affordable Textbooks Campaign Coordinator Kip Edwards.

Students are borrowing more and working longer hours to pay for their college educations. According to the College Board, tuition and fees in 2003-04 are 14 percent higher than last year for public four-year institutions. The state PIRGs have previously shown that 39 percent of student borrowers now graduate with unmanageable levels of debt and nearly half of all full-time working students are working long enough hours to hurt their academic achievement. "Rip-off 101" shows that textbooks are a significant and rising cost of a college education.

"Too many college students are already struggling to afford a college education. Unfortunately, the textbook industry's practices only create additional hurdles for those who have difficulty in paying for higher education," said the state PIRGs' Higher Education Project Associate Kate Rube.

Among the report's findings:

Textbooks are Expensive and Getting Even More Expensive
• Students will spend an average of $898 per year on textbooks in 2003-04, or almost 20 percent of the cost of in-state fees. In contrast, students spent an average of $642 on textbooks in 1996-97, according to a 1997 University of California survey.

Textbook Publishers Add Bells and Whistles that Inflate the Price of Textbooks; Most Faculty Do Not Use These Materials
• Half of all textbooks now come "bundled"—or shrink-wrapped with additional instructional materials, such as CD-ROMs and workbooks.
• More than 65 percent of the faculty surveyed for the report say they "rarely" or "never" use the bundled materials in their courses.

Textbook Publishers Put New Editions on the Market Frequently, Often With Very Few Content Changes, Making Less Expensive Used Textbooks Obsolete and Unavailable
• Publishers keep textbook editions on the shelf for an average of only 3.5 years before updating them.
• Seventy-six percent of faculty surveyed said that the new editions they use are justified only half the time or less.
• More than 59 percent of students who searched for a used book for the fall 2003 quarter/semester were unable to find even one used book for their classes, and were forced to pay an average of $102.44 for a new book, versus an average of $64.80 for a used book.

Faculty Support Alternatives That Lower Students' Costs and Maintain Quality.
• Eighty-seven percent of faculty surveyed support including new information in a supplement instead of producing a new textbook edition.

Online Textbooks Hold Promise for Lowering the Cost of Textbooks.
• According to the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores, paper, printing and editorial costs account for an average of 32.3 cents of every dollar a textbook costs—the largest share of the textbook costs. Online textbooks could eliminate this cost and significantly lower the retail cost of textbooks.

An example of how publishers artificially drive up textbook prices is prominent publisher Thomson Learning, who produces a widely-taught series of introductory calculus textbooks. An inspection of one of its most popular books, "Calculus: Early Transcendentals," revealed only cosmetic changes between the current edition, produced in 2003, and the previous edition, produced in 1999. However, the price difference was significant—a new copy of the book sells for about $130, while a used copy of the previous edition sells for between $20 and $90.

In the survey, mathematics faculty members questioned the need to update books so frequently. One UCLA math professor wrote, ". . [There] are no reasons why the textbooks have to be updated every five years or even more frequently. New illustrations are sometimes added, exercises are shuffled and so on, but these do not substantially affect teaching/learning."

Thompson Learning also charges American students significantly more than their British and Canadian counterparts. According to the publisher's web site, "Calculus: Early Transcendentals" sells for $130 to American students, but only $97 ($125 C) to Canadian students and only $65 (35 pounds) to British students. This practice is widespread in the industry, and has come under a great deal of recent scrutiny.

"Price gouging in any form is unacceptable, but it is particularly outrageous when it cheats students," said Congressman David Wu (D-OR), the author of legislation (H.R. 3567) to investigate the college textbook industry's pricing practices. "I want to thank the state PIRGs for educating the public about the high price of college textbooks and I look forward to continuing the fight on behalf our students to make college more affordable for American families." Congressman Wu and Senator Charles Schumer have both introduced legislation to address the high cost of college textbooks.

Meanwhile, on campuses, mathematics professors are teaming up with students to take action. MaryPIRG's Affordable Textbooks Campaign is calling on mathematics faculty at University of Maryland to join faculty members from around the country to sign a letter to Thompson Learning's CEO, Ronald H. Schlosser, asking him to amend his company's publishing and pricing practices. "Textbooks need to be priced and sold at a more reasonable cost, and steps should be taken to ensure a more vibrant used book market," concluded Edwards.

The state PIRGs' Higher Education Project made the following policy recommendations:

• Publishers should work to keep the cost of producing their books as low as possible without sacrificing educational content.
• Publishers should allow faculty and student to choose to use additional learning materials by sell their textbooks bundled with other items, they should also sell the same textbook separately.
• Publishers should keep each textbook edition on the market as long as possible.
• Publishers should give preference to paper or on-line supplements to current editions over producing entirely new editions.
• Faculty should have the right to know how their textbook choices will financially impact students. Publishers should disclose all of the different products they sell—including both bundled and unbundled options, list how much each of those products cost, the length of time they intend to produce the current edition, and how the newest edition is different from the previous edition.
• Faculty should give preference to the least cost textbook option when the educational content is equal.
• Colleges and Universities should consider implementing rental programs similar to those at several universities in Wisconsin and Illinois and encourage students to consider using on-line bookswaps so that students can buy and sell used books and set their own prices.