On the heels of a successful textbook rental initiative launched by the University of Minnesota-Mankato, University of Wisconsin officials have begun to promote a series of grassroots efforts to help control the increasing cost of textbooks.
After the Minnesota Legislature granted a total of $500,000 to six of its 32 state colleges and universities to kick-start projects to lower textbook pricing, UM-Mankato put $5,000 toward buying more expensive textbooks required for certain classes, according to Kellian Clink, librarian at UM-Mankato’s Memorial Library.
The textbooks were then put on reserve at campus libraries for students to rent, according to Clink.
“The biggest complaint that my students have is that students don’t have that kind of money,” Clink said. “We have the books on reserve so students can go over and read them and take their notes as well as scan some stuff from the textbooks so that works out.”
According to Clink, UM-Mankato just put another $2,000 into the initiative.
While systems of textbook rental have been effective among several Minnesota colleges, Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning at UW, said such programs would be unfeasible for a university as big as UW.
“It costs a lot for everything these days,” Brower said. “So what we can do as a campus is help students prepare for that as best we can.”
According to Brower, a study done by UW in 2007 confirmed students spend upward of $700 a year on textbooks.
“The things that make sense are to support students in their grassroots efforts and to promote things like Craigslist or eBay,” Brower said. “That’s one project that’s been very, very successful.”
UW is also pushing professors to get textbook information out to students more diligently so students have more time to shop around for the lowest available prices, Brower added.
Associated Students of Madison is adding to the UW initiative by conducting their third semi-annual book swap.
Chris Tiernan, chairman of the ASM book swap, said this semester’s book swap will be conducted differently than it has been in the past two semesters.
Students are encouraged to drop their books off Jan. 18, and ASM will then price and sell the books on the second day of the swap. Students who dropped off books may then pick up their money or any unsold books on Jan. 20, according to Tiernan.
Tiernan also said ASM plans to increase the buyback of the books from 65 percent to 75 percent in the upcoming swap as an incentive for students to utilize the program.
“I think it’s a really hands-on way for students to deal with the rising cost of textbooks,” Tiernan said. “It’s a major problem with universities right now because although the tuition is rising with the inflation rate, the textbook prices are rising exponentially.”
