Textbook Costs - USM Forum -- Message Board

Douglas Vours · Status: Offline

Textbook Costs

Jameela Lares · Status: Offline

In June, Congress asked a federal advisory panel to "shed light on this issue." Hearings begin next month; a report is due in May.

A report last August by the Government Accountability Office said students could spend as much as $900 a year on new textbooks and supplies. It blames publishers for driving up costs by "bundling" workbooks or CD-ROMs and by making unnecessary updates. Publishers say the report is flawed.

If memory serves, Congress passed a bill some years back that has played havoc with publishing: a publisher's unsold inventory is taxed. That means that the publisher has far less incentive to keep books in print. If I had the time, I'd track down the law, which I'm pretty sure is out there. (Perhaps someone on vacation could do so?) If so, then the government might begin looking at itself for accountability.

JL

Silver Surfer · Status: Offline

Unfortunately, I believe the textbook industry is guilty as charged. Many textbook "updates" involve changing the cover art. I blame the textbook companies and the authors equally -- they're scrapping for every penny they can get from these books now rather than considering the long term effects their actions have on their industry.

I have had too many bad experiences with book companies, book reps, bookstores, etc., to have any sympathy for the textbook conglomerates.

DJ · Status: Offline

This textbook thing strikes me as a bit absurd. The first college textbook I bought in 1974...yes 1974!...was $45. I remember it because I nearly had a stroke at the time. Keep in mind that my first year tuition, room and a 20-meal-a-week meal plan cost $1,800.00. FOR THE YEAR!!!

Now I am in a Ph.D. program, lo these 32 years later, which at IN-STATE tuition (NOT including room or board) costs me roughtly $7,000. That's a four-fold increase and I have to house and feed myself. My most expensive textbook this semester will cost me $168.

Legislators haggling over the price of textbooks when they have cut funding year after year, recently drove up the interest rate on student loans by a MASSIVE increase while cutting student aid like crazy....it's a little like an arsonist burning his house to the ground then bitching at the neighbor because the fire trucks that saved the neighbor's house tore up his yard.

IT'S NOT THE COST OF TEXTBOOKS THAT IS THE PROBLEM!

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

The text book problem in the sciences is especially ridiculous. The introductory courses cover the same material covered 40 years ago. Modern discoveries can only be introduced after the student understands the introductory material. However, the publishes keep replacing the Into. text every 2 or 3 years even though the material is basically the same as it was 30 years ago. They change the order and numbers on the problems and exercises at the end of the chapters. This forces all the students and text book service to purchase new books and very difficulty to use second hand books for no reason except for the publishers to make money.

Douglas Vours · Status: Offline

The solution is simple; just adopt the same text every semester.

oldtimer · Status: Offline

Douglas Vours wrote:

The solution is simple; just adopt the same text every semester.

Sounds simple, but Textbook Services may inform you that "we can't find any more copies of that book, because the publisher has brought out a new version." In the publishing business, a three-year-old copyright date is considered "cause for concern" and for bringing out a revised edition.

Douglas Vours · Status: Offline

oldtimer wrote:

Douglas Vours wrote:

The solution is simple; just adopt the same text every semester.

Sounds simple, but Textbook Services may inform you that "we can't find any more copies of that book, because the publisher has brought out a new version." In the publishing business, a three-year-old copyright date is considered "cause for concern" and for bringing out a revised edition.

Textbook services would LOVE to sell more used textbooks - they make more money (greater recurring margin) on used textbooks opposed to new "packets"

If the adoption is made, the book WILL be available

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

Somewhere on the board it was pointed out that students could save money by going to Campus Book Mart on Hardy Street. I checked the prices on books for four core courses -- HIS 101, MAT 101, PSY 110, and SOC 101. At Campus Book Mart they don't always have both new and used books for every course. They tend to have one or the other with an emphasis on used. My findings are below:

Course Condition USM Price CBM Price

HIS 101 used $22.30 $19.85

MAT 101 used $87.00 $67.50

PSY 110 new $103.60 $90.63

SOC 101 new $66.45 $58.13

Total $279.35 $236.11

Campus Book Mart savings = $43.24 or ~15%

It appears that a student can save quite a bit of money by going across the street, especiially if they need big bucks upper division and science books. That fancy new bookstore wasn't free.

Advocate · Status: Offline

I always liked to good ol' days when we used to rent the books and return them at the end of the semester. That was such an enourmous benefit. There were always a few books, such as a lab book, that we had to purchase, but my bill was never more than $50.

Southern Belle · Status: Offline

I have always tried to buy my books at Campus Book Mart to save money and have encouraged students to do the same. Unfortunately if students rely on financial aid to pay for the books, CBM is not an option.

I bought my textbooks Tuesday at CBM and saved about $30.

Just Coasting · Status: Offline

I agree about renting the books. My son's cost for text books for 3 courses was $680.

CoBster in Residence · Status: Offline

This thread points out what I believe is another problem with schools like USM. Yes, I agree that textbooks are overly expensive, but they are a cost of going to college. I am always amazed at the number of individuals whose goal it is to make attending college a bare bones activity. I believe that if a student signs up for a course, then he or she should automatically be charged for that course's textbook. B&N could box up every student's books and have them waiting for pickup. The cost of the textbooks could be handled like tuition and fees and paid in the same manner. Then, students would all have the book and -- if the book is truly important to success in the course -- the instructor could structure his class accordingly. Students would have already paid for the book and more would read them in preparation for class. I simply do not understand faculty who want to strip the education process down to its minimum. We should be putting our students in situations that require some sacrifice rather than becoming the easy way out.

CoBster in Residence · Status: Offline

Southern Belle wrote:

Unfortunately if students rely on financial aid to pay for the books, CBM is not an option.

This is not true. CBM will accept a postdated check and will hold it until financial aid refund checks are issued and students can go clear up their bill. The postdated check acts as a security deposit.

qwerty · Status: Offline

Publishers publish to make money. They aren't charities. For those belly-aching about the costs of these highly specialized works, try comparing them to the costs of professional books in law, medicine, and other professional fields--they make your biology and chemistry 101 texts look like a bargain.

Somehow if its an intellectual endeavor, people in Mississippi think it should be free.

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

qwerty wrote:

Publishers publish to make money. They aren't charities. For those belly-aching about the costs of these highly specialized works, try comparing them to the costs of professional books in law, medicine, and other professional fields--they make your biology and chemistry 101 texts look like a bargain. Somehow if its an intellectual endeavor, people in Mississippi think it should be free.

But it's not an " intellectual endeavor" to just take material that has been taught in introductory texts for over 40 years and just put in different pictures, color definitions so they can be easily found without thinking, rearrange the exercises without changing the content and discontinue an identical text that is just 3 years old only for the purpose of selling more books at higher prices.

Southern Belle · Status: Offline

CoBster in Residence wrote:

"This is not true. CBM will accept a postdated check and will hold it until financial aid refund checks are issued and students can go clear up their bill. The postdated check acts as a security deposit."

As a Business person, are you aware that writing postdated checks is against the law and could be consider "kiting"?

qwerty · Status: Offline

LeftASAP wrote:

qwerty wrote:

Publishers publish to make money. They aren't charities. For those belly-aching about the costs of these highly specialized works, try comparing them to the costs of professional books in law, medicine, and other professional fields--they make your biology and chemistry 101 texts look like a bargain. Somehow if its an intellectual endeavor, people in Mississippi think it should be free.

But it's not an " intellectual endeavor" to just take material that has been taught in introductory texts for over 40 years and just put in different pictures, color definitions so they can be easily found without thinking, rearrange the exercises without changing the content and discontinue an identical text that is just 3 years old only for the purpose of selling more books at higher prices.

I cannot think of one field in which a current textbook presents the state of a field as it stood in 1966. Could you give me a specific example of a branch of learning that is unchanged since then?

I certainly would not assign a 40 yr old US history survey textbook (my field) to my students.

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

qwerty wrote:

LeftASAP wrote:

But it's not an " intellectual endeavor" to just take material that has been taught in introductory texts for over 40 years and just put in different pictures, color definitions so they can be easily found without thinking, rearrange the exercises without changing the content and discontinue an identical text that is just 3 years old only for the purpose of selling more books at higher prices.

I cannot think of one field in which a current textbook presents the state of a field as it stood in 1966. Could you give me a specific example of a branch of learning that is unchanged since then? I certainly would not assign a 40 yr old US history survey textbook (my field) to my students.

Look in introductory physics, math and some chemistry texts A year of Intro. physics barely reaches discoveries made in the 1930s. In the older disciplines of math and science the material is stratified so that the newer discoveries can only be presented to students who mastered the older fundamentals. In addition, these texts are usually retained by many students for reference and are not resold.

qwerty · Status: Offline

LeftASAP wrote:

qwerty wrote:

LeftASAP wrote:

But it's not an " intellectual endeavor" to just take material that has been taught in introductory texts for over 40 years and just put in different pictures, color definitions so they can be easily found without thinking, rearrange the exercises without changing the content and discontinue an identical text that is just 3 years old only for the purpose of selling more books at higher prices.

I cannot think of one field in which a current textbook presents the state of a field as it stood in 1966. Could you give me a specific example of a branch of learning that is unchanged since then? I certainly would not assign a 40 yr old US history survey textbook (my field) to my students.

Look in introductory physics, math and some chemistry texts A year of Intro. physics barely reaches discoveries made in the 1930s. In the older disciplines of math and science the material is stratified so that the newer discoveries can only be presented to students who mastered the older fundamentals. In addition, these texts are usually retained by many students for reference and are not resold.

I think we'd all agree if that if the publishers didn't tart the books up with four-color printing; offered standard size paperback editions, and stopped sending so many free copies to Profs, only to be sold to the book buyer, book prices could be substantially cut.

Robert Campbell · Status: Offline

Jameela,

My recollection of the IRS angle is not that Congress passed a new tax law, but that a Federal court decision (in a case involving parts for power tools, or something along those lines, not books) led to the requirement that inventories be valued for tax purposes at the wholesale price. Books held in inventory could no longer be valued at what the publisher estimated they would fetch as remainders--unless they were actually remaindered.

This ruling explains why hardcover trade books go out of print so fast today--and it hasn't helped university presses either.

But the churning of "new" editions of textbooks isn't primarily a consequence of this court ruling--because the pressure is now on to produce a "new" edition every 2 to 3 years, regardless of subject matter.

Robert Campbell

Frank Glamser · Status: Offline

I just got back from my first class of the term at Tulane-Biloxi. Barnes and Noble were selling new books at 10% off list in the foyer. The students seem to mostly use the internet for their purchases to get some really good deals.

DJ · Status: Offline

Send them to this site: CollegeBooksDirect.com

I bought several of my books there and got new books (in the shrink wrap) for what our student, faculty and staff owned University Co-op was selling used books for (of course, they rarely HAVE any used books).

Just my $.02.
DJ