Outrageous textbook prices
By Jessica Fashant | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Johanna Falzone
The little brunette girl behind the counter at the school bookstore couldn’t stop smiling when she muttered the words “$203.52.”
I was speechless once I remembered that this wasn’t the total cost for all of my textbooks required this semester, but just for one.
The cost of “Personal Financial Planning,” a book required for one of my new classes, is the cost of more than two months of paying my cell phone bill, two months of car insurance, or only slightly lower than an entire month of my rent. I told her to forget it and put the book back. I wish it were a joke, but it seems that this is a regular occurrence that colleges are forcing onto students.
This new class of mine isn’t required for my major, but I’m taking it for the credits and because I thought it would be nice to learn how to manage my money a little better. So, I refuse to drop $200 for it. How can my teacher stand at the front of the class and ask me to have this book when he’s supposed to be teaching me to save? What happened to that eight month emergency savings fund that I’m supposed to be working on?
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2005 that the average college student spends about $900 a year on textbooks, about 20 percent of tuition and fees at four-year public universities. Textbook prices are rising at about four times the rate of inflation. New editions of books are priced significantly higher than old editions (on average twice inflation) and, to add insult to injury, the prices for the exact same textbook are often significantly lower in price in other countries such as the UK.
In 2008, Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which would require price disclosure when publishers sell them to teachers. It also ends a practice in which companies sell books and supplemental materials together, driving up costs. Several states have passed similar legislation.
I asked Christy Castelli, my teacher for Principles of Wellness and Fitness, what she thought about knowing beforehand about the price of textbooks when she’s choosing one for her class. She thinks that asking students to pay full price for a copy of Total Fitness and Wellness isn‘t necessary, so she allows students to buy an older edition that can still be bought used for less than $12 online. Other Flagler College teachers – such as Maggie Hutchison, who teaches Computer Science – take into consideration the price of books when choosing them. However, there just aren’t enough teachers like her.
I agree it’s important to have updated editions of textbooks in such fields as medicine and technology, where the pace of change is great, but in many cases, the changes made to many textbooks are miniscule.
According to the Collegian, South Dakota State University’s independent newspaper, when new editions are compared with previous editions, very little has been added – a new chart here, a new table there. Sometimes, textbooks will change the order of example problems or simply change chapter names and their numbering.
Renting textbooks has been an option for students not willing to pay full-price. Sites such as Chegg.com and Campusbookrentals.com promise to save you big bucks. These Web sites provide students with the option of renting for a semester, quarter, or summer and charge rental fees by the book. The cost of “Personal Financial Planning” can be rented for an entire semester for less than $60 on both sites. By renting books, students can save over 50 percent on the price. However, keep in mind that you don’t get any money back after the book is returned.
Another solution to lower textbook prices would be to try and get more textbooks uploaded onto the Internet. Isn’t our generation the “computer savvy” one anyways? With books uploaded online, students can access everything electronically, and even if a small price would be charged with each book, someone would still be making money. I’m sure more students would be willing to do that than sharing books, or refusing to buy a book altogether and saving money.
Eric Frank and his business partner, Jeff Shelstad, founded Flat World Knowledge in 2007 and began operating in 2008. It is the first commercial open textbook publisher. It offers free online textbooks that can be printed and bound, $25 for black-and-white and $35-$39 for full-color copies. Open textbooks are free textbooks available online that are licensed to allow users to download, customize and print any part of the text. Professors can change content to fit their teaching styles.
Maybe the big print publishers will wake up and realize that students are no longer willing to pay outrageous prices for textbooks.
That $200 I saved went towards rent.
See the Bookstore’s response to Jessica’s opinion piece.
How to get free cupons, the easy way…
And like I said, getting cupons online isn’t that hard…I got this idea from a guy…
Thinking outside the coupon box!…
I saw this really good post today on how to not follow everyone’s path and get yourself some rebates……
I rent textbooks from Chegg and save a lot of money every semester. I wanted to share a promotional code to get a discount on your text order. Put in the code when ordering and hit the “apply” button. The code also gives you back an additional $5 when selling Chegg your used texts. The code does NOT have an expiration date so it can be used at anytime. Use code: CC123047
Feel free to share the code with other starving students. Become a Chegg Champion and you can also make extra money for college.
“The little brunette girl behind the counter at the school bookstore couldn’t stop smiling when she muttered the words “$203.52.”
Hey Jess-
That smiling? That’s called quality customer service.
You think she’s getting a cut?
Should she scowl and quit her job to stand with raised fist
in solidarity with you because you failed to take the time to research the myriad options for procuring textbooks? Nope.
She should do just what she was trained to do.
The folks who work the book store are always more than friendly and happy to help when I visit. I’m sure the “little brunette girl behind the counter” has a name and i’ll bet it’s not Flagler Book Store.
Thanks a lot for your article and precious advices.
I’m agree in Italy we have same problem.
Here’s another take on the issue of high textbook prices: http://siftingandwinnowing.org/2007/12/18/textbooks-and-the-free-market/
Bottom line: Students and faculty need to start pushing back and not accepting $190 prices on freshman textbooks.
Good alternatives to traditional textbooks exist now in the form of at least one open source textbook initiative in California and at least two non-traditional textbook publishers that offer either free or low cost (e.g., starting at under $10) textbook options in a range of disciplines. Textbook Media (textbookmedia.com) and Flat World Knowledge (flatworldknowledge.com) offer these options right now. But without an army of sales reps pushing their titles, unlike the traditional publishers offering $150 textbooks, few faculty or students are aware of these new companies.
“Teachers make you feel like you have to have the books. It’s a vicious cycle.”
This is college. Books are an integral part of the college environment; they are not in existence to be a burden, hindrance, or punishment. They are tools in the learning process and should be viewed and used as such. If your instructors make you feel that way, they are doing a good job. While some courses can adequately be taught without, for the most part I would question when you aren’t made to feel that way.
It is unfortunate that more value is not place on learning tools, and instead are seen as “ridiculously priced.” So much is being done by all interested parties- bookstores, instructors, publishers, students- to try to offset the costs. Do you question the cost of tuition, which rises every year? Or is it something students think less about because there is no “buyback” at the end of each semester? What about the price of an mp3 player, or a cell phone, or a laptop computer? It’s a question of how much value and importance you place on each of these things. (Financial Planning might cover these topics). If you don’t see your textbook as having value, of course the cost will seem ridiculous. Perhaps that is a conversation you should be having with your instructors.
Check out this site: http://www.textbookfacts.org/ There is a lot of good information on there.
“Student Monitor, an independent student research service, found that the average four-year undergraduate spends approximately $650 a year on textbooks. That’s less than five percent of an average student’s total direct higher education expenses. When it comes to ensuring academic success, this may be the most important five percent a student spends.”
Teachers make you feel like you have to have the books. It’s a vicious cycle.
The sad thing is that half of the textbooks i purchase i barely use.
Great points, getting by on a college budget and buying all of your textbooks often don’t go together. Thats why the new eBook movement and the movement towards rentals are happening right now. I use eCampus.com because they offer 5 different options to buy my books.
I was able to use a coupon code last time and got 5% off my order
Try code: GOLDFISH
Textbooks – Buy Textbooks | Rent Textbooks | Sell Textbooks | eTextbooks | Books | DVD + Blu Ray | Used Textbooks – eCampus.com – College Books and Gear. Cheap!
Here is another textbook rental site worth checking out. Its http://www.skoobit.com they rent textbooks to college students and you can save up to 85%.