Attending college is expensive. For most students, the cost of tuition is an afterthought as they take out loans to pay it off later, but one college cost confronts students directly at the beginning of each semester: textbooks.
Textbooks are not cheap. Regardless of discipline, a single college textbook can be over $200. Textbook companies package study guides, online resources and homework, DVDs, CDs and extra fluff that most professors don’t use. According to a study by the Government Accountability Office, between 2002 and 2012 the price of college textbooks rose 82 percent.
Students must follow the decisions of professors when making textbook purchases. Oftentimes professors have no idea of the cost of the textbook they’ve chosen and textbook sales representatives see no need to tell professors, who often receive new editions of the text for free.
Textbooks are a physical good that can be easily resold. With the growing after-market sales of textbooks facilitated by online retailers and exchanges, textbook companies (and authors) sell fewer new textbooks. This encourages textbook companies to sell new editions without substantive changes at higher prices. What can be done to combat rising costs?
College textbooks include more bells and whistles than a typical high school textbook. Since, for the most part, textbook companies don’t compete on price, they must convince the professor that their book is of superior quality. If professors begin selecting textbooks with more forethought and consideration for the cost imposed upon students, prices should balance out.
Government initiatives to make textbooks cheaper will miss the mark. Often, cheaper books will come with poorer standards. To be expected, a market-driven solution executed by professors will be most effective.
Professors of introductory courses, which are often characterized by sky-high textbook costs, should design their course so that any recent edition of any major textbook will meet the needs of the student. There are professors who use the textbook as a valuable asset that complements the course, and there are others who use the textbook as a crutch and basis of powerpoint notes. If professors base powerpoint slides loosely around textbook readings, it’ll be easier for students to supplement understanding with whatever recent edition they’ve purchased.
Opening opportunities for students to decide which books have value by providing constructive feedback will allow students to use textbooks as effective tools to learn more and improve performance.
Students continue to battle against rising textbook costs with rentals, borrowing and illegal downloads. These alternative routes do not hurt the learning process. Educators must work to make textbooks easier to access. To forgo a textbook in a course is often a mistake, and poor finances shouldn’t further inflict harm on college students.