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OPINION & EDITORIAL

College campuses need textbook reform

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by Letters to the Editor

Friday, November 16, 2007

The UW-Madison Office of Undergraduate Admissions estimates the cost for books and supplies at $930 for the 2007-08 academic year. A recent UW System analysis put the current costs for textbooks at the Madison campus at $890 annually. By the end of their undergraduate careers, most students will have paid close to $4,000 for textbooks.

Campuses, faculty and students all have roles to play in reducing the escalating costs of textbooks, which have risen at twice the rate of inflation in recent years. Campuses can consider rental programs or make more textbooks available in college libraries. Faculty can announce which texts they're using in the coming semester as early as possible, so that students and bookstores have time to plan and shop for the best prices. Faculty can also resist unnecessary new editions of textbooks they have authored, as well as the use of bundled products, in which textbooks are packaged with study guides and CDs.

Students can search for the best buys and, if a proposed ASM program is launched, they can buy used texts directly from fellow students. This program — which would sponsor both opportunities for students to drop off their used books for sale and opportunities for students in search of books to browse these offerings — would benefit both buyers and sellers.

I congratulate ASM on undertaking this textbook swap program. As a consumer science professor, I also appreciate its importance and encourage students to take advantage of it.

Robin A. Douthitt, Dean

School of Human Ecology

douthitt@wisc.edu

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Anonymous (November 16, 2007 @ 7:24am):

Wrong, dude! The whole textbook system is flawed, not just at the consumer end at the bookstore. It's a cartel.

There is no reason undergraduate courses should be requiring textbooks on the *Fundamentals of XYZ* that cost $150+. This kind of fundamental material is often available under GPL (e.g., Wiki books), or already-circulating books. There is no need to use a 2007 edition of the Fundamentals of Calculus when the 1981 version is perfectly appropriate. The UW Math Department has realized this in the past. But their memory is only short term.

Anonymous (November 16, 2007 @ 2:11pm):

"college campuses need textbook reform"

in other news, the sun will rise in the east and set in the west.

Anonymous (November 18, 2007 @ 6:50pm):

First of all, most rental programs don't actually save students money. The popular one, chegg.com charges student on average 50% of the book price. This is no different than students participating in buyback where they sell their textbooks back at the end of the semester. One thing schools could do is offer a guarantee buyback program instead of implementing an expensive rental program.

There are also tools out there that schools could use to bulk shop used books, such as the ones offered by www.alloken.com - if bookstores bought more used books they could lower their prices all the while maintaining their margin, which is normally 25%.

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