The Cost of Reading

Three years ago, the Washington Post (09/18/2004) quoted Congressman Buck McKeon as saying, "If a student signs up for a class, they're pretty much at the mercy of the publishers. It's not like they have any other place to go." Three years later, Nathassia Torchon (a student at Massachusetts Bay Community College) told the Boston Globe (10/03/2007), "They always tell you 20 hours is good enough to work and go to school full time. I have to work three jobs to pay for two books."

Anyone who has had to pay for textbooks knows this instinctively, but two reports called by the title "Ripoff 101" (2nd Edition, February, 2005) make several points:
1. "Textbook prices are increasing at more than four times the inflation rate for all finished goods, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index."
2. "New editions of the textbooks surveyed cost, on average, 45 percent more than used copies of the previous edition."
3. "Bundling [of textbooks with workbooks or software] drives up textbook costs."
4. "Textbook publishers charge American students more than students overseas for the same textbooks."

The students at Great Basin College are all too aware of these issues. eFollett, the contracted private business that operates a bookstore on (the Elko) campus, is often higher priced than the majority of its competitors. Want some examples?

The SFWriter, required for ENG 101, costs $64 new or $48 used from eFollett.
The suggested retail price for a new copy is $60, and you can buy it directly from the publisher for that price. Amazon.com has new copies for $56.84 and used copies for as low as $33.69. Since you'd have to pay postage through Amazon, it only pays to get a NEW copy through them if you live outside Elko, because students outside Elko have to pay to have their books shipped to them. However, used copies for under $48 are relatively plentiful. On half.com, new copies can be had for as little as $34.

In other subjects, particularly science and math, the cost differences are even more pronounced. The textbook for PHYS 100 costs $105.50 from eFollett -- and that's USED! You can get the same book package new for less than that on Amazon, and used copies are selling for as little as $76.48.

But this is the real shock:
The SF Writer is ring-bound and has 640 pages.
The ring-bound edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook has a comparable 576 pages. But the cookbook only costs $19.77 NEW from Amazon.
The brand-new book, Photopedia: the Ultimate Digital Photography Resource, also has 600 pages and costs $26.39.
And yes, the most recent Harry Potter book has 784 pages and costs $19.24 in HARDBACK.

Apparently, any book that has "textbook" in its description costs three times as much. Students are held up by bandits every time they step into a bookstore.

Possible solutions?
1. Increase the number of textbook-optional courses. Instructors can make the course content available through online lectures, free handouts, Internet links, and through PDF files or on cheap CD-R's. This won't work for every subject, but if half of our courses had no traditional textbooks, that would reduce the costs for students by roughly one-half.
2. More instructor-written books. If GBC instructors compiled their own material, they could avoid the big publishers and get the texts to students more cheaply.
3. More "low frills" books. Instead of books with coated paper stock, photos on every page, and hardback covers, how about ordering books with fewer pictures, less-costly paper, and paperback covers?

I'm sure every student and every faculty member agrees with these things. Now if only the book publishers of the world would agree!