A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has proposed a new plan that would deduct up to $1,000 in college textbook costs from the taxable income of college students and their parents. "After they pay the tuition, parents and students are getting slapped with shocking costs for textbooks in class after class, at school after school," Schumer said in The Chronicle.
The Chronicle noted that Schumer urged the Department of Education to find additional ways to help lower textbook prices, stressing the need to prohibit professors from assigning books that they authored. The senator also downplayed the importance of textbook supplements such as CDs and workbooks.
The Chronicle cited several other legislative endeavors currently underway to combat high textbook prices. Representative David Wu (D-Or.) introduced a bill that would require the General Accounting Office to investigate the issue, and Assemblywoman Carol Liu (D-Ca.) is seeking to implement a bill written by the California Public Interest Research Group. "[The bill] charges in its preamble that textbook publishers add 'bells and whistles' that 65 percent of faculty members don't use," reported The Chronicle. The bill encourages publishers to hold costs down by keeping CDs and workbooks unbundled (wrapped together in shrink wrap) from the actual textbook.
Another problem contributing to rising costs is that selling textbooks back to the bookstore from which the books were purchased may seem like a good economic move, but it is not beneficial for the student. "When a textbook is first published, almost all students will purchase a new copy, paying full retail price," according to The Chronicle. "At the end of the semester, they will sell their books back to their college bookstore for 50 percent of retail."
The financial incentives of producing new editions is so great for publishing companies that new editions usually appear every three or four years. Not all of the new editions can be explained by new information or updated interpretations. "In some fields, like calculus, the frequency of new editions is seldom justified by either new developments in the subject or improvements in pedagogy," reported to The Chronicle.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Sarah Turgeon allows her students to use older editions of books. "In Psych. 12 I do let students use the edition prior to the one we're currently using, and I provide the page numbers for both editions in the syllabus," she said.
The Chronicle article suggested that involving a college or university in the purchase of books can help to reduce the cost for students. President Anthony Marx said that he would support and assist a student book exchange at the College to help combat high bookstore prices. "I have not heard anything about the College getting involved with buying textbooks, but we would be delighted to help the students coordinate something and to help make a book exchange be something that is more talked about," he said.
Students have other suggestions for combatting the high costs of textbooks for classes. Gudrun Juffer '08 suggested more thoughtful book selection on the part of professors. "I think the College should make professors be more selective in choosing course materials. Individual books aren't too expensive, but when you have to buy eight of them per class, it adds up," he said. "For one class, I had to buy a $70 book that we used eight pages of."
Amrit Amirapu '05 said that the high prices of books bother him. "Professors should assign fewer books when possible, or perhaps put less stress on buying particular, new editions," he said.
Rob Cobbs '06 said that he buys many of his books online to avoid the bookstores' high prices. "I am a Russian and English major, so books aren't too expensive," he said. "For [a] geology [class I'm taking] new textbooks cost about 160 dollars. I found them on eBay for a combined total of 35 dollars plus shipping."
Laura Trigeiro '06, a computer science and math major, offered a different opinion. "Textbooks are one thing I'm willing to shell out for," she said. "But maybe if professors told us what textbooks were needed in advance, we could find them online easier."