A group of University of Wisconsin students assembled Wednesday in front of the University Book Store testifying the support of hundreds of university professors around the country who are pushing to find a lower-cost textbook solution.
Angela Biscardi, a UW freshman and Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group textbook coordinator, introduced the announcement of the faculty backing for cheap books with a warning.
“We are here to say we have good news and bad news for students,” Biscardi said.
The bad news is not too new — Biscardi said a WisPIRG survey exposes the average student pays approximately $900 for course materials a year. Biscardi attributed the high expense for books to the texts’ publishers, most notably Thomson Learning, for producing new editions of textbooks that only have “bells and whistles.” She said publishers should offer different content instead of charging students full price for a new book that has nothing new to offer.
Biscardi said some of the bells and whistles included in the new book packages are supplemental materials, like workbooks or CD-ROMs. These items, which at a glance might seem helpful, do not even matter to a student’s education, according to Biscardi.
“In a recent survey, 65 percent of faculty don’t use this material,” she said, adding the material is a ruse to bump up the price for textbooks.
Biscardi also said in a survey of hundreds of faculty around the nation, 76 percent of the instructors said they think new editions are justified half the time or less, and more than 50 percent said new versions are “rarely” or “never” justified.
Biscardi also noted books have something in common with prescription drugs: They are cheaper in Canada.
According to statistics WisPIRG provided, American students pay $122 for a new copy of the fifth edition of Thomson’s “Calculus: Early Transcendentals,” where Canadian students would pay $96, and those in the United Kingdom would dish out a mere $59. The average cost of the fourth edition costs students in the States between $90 and $100.
Biscardi said a letter was sent to Thomson Learning, asking the publishing company to consider four points: to publish the old edition of the calculus text until there was “significantly new content” to warrant a new version, to establish a pricing system to lessen the difference in price variation between different countries, to provide details on the amount of time Thomson would want to continue publishing one edition of a book and produce an online version of the calculus text accessible to students.
“We can only assure you that we do our best to match our business practices with our customers’ needs — a responsibility we take quite seriously,” a letter sent by Thomson Publishing replied to the requests.
Thomson Publishing is a $7.6 billion multinational corporation, with $2.1 billion of its 2003 revenue attributed to education publications, a more than a 1 percent rise in sales over 2002. According to Thomson’s website, the publishing corporation saw a 5 percent gain in profits from 2002 to 2003, accounting for approximately $1.1 billion.
UW student and Associated Students of Madison Co-Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee Faris Rashid also spoke regarding UW’s increasing involvement in finding a solution to high book costs. He said a committee of students, faculty and staff has been formed to explore the issue.
Rashid said the committee, which meets every Wednesday, has spoken on every considerable option, including book rentals, book swaps and a UW-owned bookstore.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows, who was involved in the creation of the committee, noted the importance of finding a lower-cost option for students.
“Anything that the university can do to defray or [lower] the costs of textbooks to students is worth looking into.”
Biscardi also opined that the impact on the many local bookstores that supply students with their course materials would be minimal, adding that WisPIRG and the ASM-sponsored committee are working closely with University Bookstore in the process.
“I don’t think bookstores would lose any business,” Biscardi said.
