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Fumbling for a solution to high textbook prices

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by Bridget Roby

Monday, January 21, 2008

A plasma TV, two months’ rent, or nearly a year’s worth of groceries.

There is no telling what University of Wisconsin students could afford if they did not have to spend the nearly $900 average college students spend on textbooks and supplies each year.

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the price of textbook and supply costs grew at more than twice the rate of inflation from 1986 to 2004, with students spending nearly $900 each year for books and supplies in 2003-04. However, there is some dispute about the actual amount students pay, as a UW System report said publishing industry experts estimated the average to be closer to $644 per year.

“It’s definitely something [the university] is very concerned about,” UW spokesperson John Lucas said. “It’s not only a UW concern; it’s also a (UW) System concern.”

Sophomore Alex Reynolds said she has felt the weight of high textbook costs already in her first year and a half at UW.

“When I was a freshman — my first semester here — I bought all of my books brand new from the bookstore on State Street and it came to about $400 or $500, and I was only taking 12 credits at the time,” Reynolds said. “Ever since then I’ve bought used books online at half.com.”

Yet even while buying used books, Reynolds managed to spend about $420 on books for the 18 credits of classes she is taking this spring.

UW sophomore Alex Larsen said in addition to a $50 check from his grandma for books each semester, he works a part-time job to help cover the rest of the cost, which usually totals around $400.

“My calculus book last year was my most expensive book, and that cost me almost $200,” he said. “It was just ridiculous. I usually go for used ones if I can, but for a lot of classes there’s never any used books available. What really gets me is when you buy a textbook, and then you find out you never really end up using it.”

According to a National Association of College Store study, 60 percent of students reported they had not purchased a required book because of its cost.

Associated Students of Madison Chair Gestina Sewell said ASM has been working to find a solution to the problem of rising prices for years.

“This is my fourth year here and textbooks and increasing prices have always been an issue,” Sewell said. “Some can afford it, but others are scrapping around and trying to pay for their schooling. … It could affect whether or not a student can afford an education.”

Renting textbooks — a possible solution

While UW-Madison students continue to surrender hundreds of dollars each semester for their books, students at several other UW System institutions are paying less than half that amount through textbook rental programs.

According to Grant Huber, spokesperson for the UW System, seven of the 13 four-year UW campuses currently operate textbook rental programs, while the remaining six require students to purchase their textbooks. Those operating rental programs, including Eau Claire, La Crosse and Stevens Point, charge their students a segregated fee that covers the use of most required textbooks for one semester.

The difference in the price students pay in segregated fees, according to an April 2007 UW System report, is not significant.

The average fee students paid for one semester of textbooks last year at UW institutions with rental programs was only $137.91. At UW institutions without rental programs — such as UW-Madison — the price of textbooks for a sample freshman course load that same year ranged from $345 to $581 per semester, depending on whether books were new or used.

According to Sewell, ASM recently explored the option of starting a textbook rental program at UW-Madison until they hit substantial obstacles.

“We don’t have the capital necessary to create a textbook rental program, which may actually be the solution,” Sewell said. “I would hope that the university is trying to find a way to start up a rental program.”

Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning at UW-Madison, said the university also explored the possibility of such a program but decided it was not feasible.

“A lot of it has to do with size,” Brower said. “We have a gazillion classes with 10 times that number of sections, and then you start imagining just the physical space you would need and the human power — it becomes pretty overwhelming as a task.”

According to a report last fall by a UW-Madison textbook task force committee, concerns for competition with the private sector is also an argument against a textbook rental program, in addition to the belief that the very nature of textbooks is presently evolving.

“The rental program just isn’t where the future is,” Brower said. “Frankly, the future is with electronic works and customized textbooks and other things like that. [We would be] putting an enormous investment into something that’s pretty short-lived.”

Looking beyond a rental program

Instead of creating a textbook rental program at UW-Madison, Lucas said the university has been focusing on “the practical steps where we feel we can make the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time.”

“What we’re relying on is for ASM to help conduct bigger and more swaps, and for faculty to really provide more information earlier to students about what they’ll need so they can have more time to shop around and find the best prices,” Lucas said.

ASM held its first textbook swap Monday at Memorial Union to help students save money by removing the middleman from the used textbook market.

The university, for its part, is working to get information out to students as early as possible about what textbooks they will need for particular courses so they have time to shop around.

“That way students are able to kind of use the market to find the prices that are best,” Brower said. “Along with that, we’re trying to have faculty be more deliberate about the kinds of things that they’re asking students to purchase.”

One of the university’s biggest undertakings will be the new online Course Guide, which will provide relevant information about courses including the titles and ISBN numbers of the textbooks students will need. The Course Guide is expected to go “live” by the fall semester of 2008, according to Brower.

“As you can see from [the textbook committee’s] report, one of the main things is getting out information as early as possible,” Brower said. “The course guide theoretically will make it easy for students to get at all the information.”

Although Brower said he doesn’t think getting information to students early will solve the problem created by high textbook prices entirely, he is hopeful that it will make a significant difference.

“One of the things is being honest about what the costs are so that students can prepare for those costs,” Brower said. “What’s really a problem is when you aren’t expecting it, and having a way to help students anticipate these costs is going to make a big difference.”

UW libraries are playing a role as well, according to the task force committee’s report. The libraries have set aside a special fund designated to help purchase additional copies of textbooks for high enrollment courses such as American government, biology, calculus and chemistry.

The provost’s office at UW-Madison will also be sending an e-mail each semester to faculty and instructors with tips for keeping textbook costs down and getting information out early. By approaching the problem from a variety of angles, the university hopes some of its initiatives will make a difference.

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Anonymous (January 26, 2008 @ 4:05pm):

I would have to agree. I hate the fact that textbooks are so crazily expensive and I refuse to pay the crazy prices for them. I paid for them at the bookstore my first semester of college and then I searched for alternative ways to buy them. I didn't find the textbooks I needed on flyers around campus and a lot of times Amazon.com and other sites were too expensive but then I found BIGWORDS.com. They search all the online textbook companies (including ones that rent and that guarantee buyback) to find you the best deal. I save TONS of money with them every semester.

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