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.
