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Delays raise textbook prices
Abstract:
Increasing textbook prices have caused the College Board to seek possible solutions to the nationwide problem. According to the Government Accountability Office, college textbook prices have doubled, nearly the rate of annual inflation.
To address the growing problem of high textbook costs at Mississippi colleges, the College Board created the Textbook Task Force....
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Linda Bright
posted 4/18/08 @ 11:55 AM CST
I seriously doubt the "bookstore's and student's goals are the same. The bookstore's goal is to make money. The student's goals, most of them, is to graduate from college without mega student debt. There are several things that could be done about teacher's not turning in book orders. Perhaps the new interim president could send out a letter stating that book orders must be turned in by a certani date or you will risk losing your job! Textbooks are a money making opportunity for the bookstores, and for the universities.......THAT is the bottom line as to why nothing is being done to solve the problem. You can't sell a book back if the professors change their book every semester. For MANY classes at MSU, the material changes very little from semester to semester. I mean, come on, English Lit. this semester is the same as English Lit. next semester. It is ridiculous that the books change every semester. My daughter has bought "new editions" and at the end of the semester is offered one dollar for it because some teacher decides they need a new book for next semester. It is ridiculous!
Ryan2
posted 4/18/08 @ 11:56 AM CST
Ryan what you're not considering is that the university is not going to operate a textbook rental program at a loss. In order to implement a rental program it costs lots of money. The university will have to rent the books at a price that will generate as much income as the current system of selling a book and then buying it back. My friend has a rental program at his school. The rental prices are more than buying the books online and then selling them to someone. Also they don't offer rentals for most courses. They can only offer them for freshman level classes like English or Biology. I guess it doesn't make sense to only rent a book out for one semester. If you think about the economic reasons behind it, how can a one-time-use textbook get rented for less than the cost of the book? The college and the bookstore can't conduct business that way.
Chris
posted 4/18/08 @ 12:04 PM CST
The bookstore is not the reason for higher book prices. They charge the same margin they have for 50 years.
The GAO did in fact study this issue and found book prices climbing at twice the rate of inflation. Their conclusion was that publishers are making students subsidize the costs of the free materials they give to professors.
Have you ever sat through a professionally created PowerPoint presentation in class? Taken a quiz or submitted your homework online? Some of you have probably had your term papers graded by a computer. Then when you walk into your professors office, look around at all of the books... ask them "did you read all of these." They'll probably tell you "no, the publishers keep sending me this garbage and I don't know what to do with it." Maybe if they're honest, they'll say "you payed for all of this."
Profs can help by submitting their orders ontime, but the problem won't be solved until that say stop sending me all of this free crap that my students are paying for.
The GAO did in fact study this issue and found book prices climbing at twice the rate of inflation. Their conclusion was that publishers are making students subsidize the costs of the free materials they give to professors.
Have you ever sat through a professionally created PowerPoint presentation in class? Taken a quiz or submitted your homework online? Some of you have probably had your term papers graded by a computer. Then when you walk into your professors office, look around at all of the books... ask them "did you read all of these." They'll probably tell you "no, the publishers keep sending me this garbage and I don't know what to do with it." Maybe if they're honest, they'll say "you payed for all of this."
Profs can help by submitting their orders ontime, but the problem won't be solved until that say stop sending me all of this free crap that my students are paying for.
David Schweitzer
posted 4/18/08 @ 3:59 PM CST
I have a fancy idea:
Why don't we stop constantly trying to get the newest edition released? It's rare you see any significant changes between any two versions, and students and/or faculty can correct errors on their own in earlier versions (of course, we sometimes see MORE errors come up in newer additions).
There's nothing wrong with older editions, especially in really thick books like our physics, calculus, and chemistry books. You see a slight change in the questions/problems. Big whoop.
Why don't we stop constantly trying to get the newest edition released? It's rare you see any significant changes between any two versions, and students and/or faculty can correct errors on their own in earlier versions (of course, we sometimes see MORE errors come up in newer additions).
There's nothing wrong with older editions, especially in really thick books like our physics, calculus, and chemistry books. You see a slight change in the questions/problems. Big whoop.
Chris
posted 4/18/08 @ 4:30 PM CST
You are right that edition changes are usually meaningless. State after state is enacting legislation encouraging professors to use older editions when there are no significant changes to the content. Encouraging but not requiring. There is no teeth to that sort of language.
Publishers have to keep releasing new editions to generate an income. If the edition didn't change, then everyone would just buy used copies.
Fortunately, you and other students have gotten wise to these practices. The publishers & faculty will never wise up because they benefit from this system.
Publishers have to keep releasing new editions to generate an income. If the edition didn't change, then everyone would just buy used copies.
Fortunately, you and other students have gotten wise to these practices. The publishers & faculty will never wise up because they benefit from this system.
Chris3
posted 4/18/08 @ 4:22 PM CST
Shhhhh.... I used Previous editions of books in several of my classes. Some wording would be different or chapters switched around to make the book "flow better" There was hardly any change! Anyways check with the Profs, Most of mine were very honest with me and would tell me weather the newest edition is what I needed or if last semesters would work just as well. Also paperback books sold online are great usually 1/4 to a 1/3 of the bookstores price.
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Ryan
posted 4/18/08 @ 10:20 AM CST
It really ticks me off when I have to buy a 150 dollar text book that either rarely gets used in class, or gets out dated by a new addition the next semester.