Lowering
the Price of Textbooks:
Resources for the UNC System
Introduction
Nationwide, students
and parents are struggling with the costs of a university education.
Textbooks are one of the significant parts of those costs -- students
at four-year schools spent, on average, about $900 for books and supplies
in 2003-04, more than a quarter of the cost of tuition and fees, according
to the GAO. UNC students report spending on average $500 per semester
on textbooks. The National Association of College Stores found that
nearly 60 percent of students nationwide choose not to buy all the
course materials required by faculty.
The University of North Carolina
Faculty Assembly passed a resolution
in November calling on the UNC universities, bookstores, and faculty
to consider a number of strategies to aid in lowering textbook costs.
The UNC Board of Governors subcommittee reviewing the cost of textbooks
also issued a report in January.
Additionally, the
Faculty Assembly provides this page of resources and news to help inform
the UNC System as it continues to work toward pragmatic solutions to
make textbooks affordable. While a textbook rental system is one possible
strategy, only 20 colleges and universities nationwide have such systems.
Three schools, Appalachian
State University, Western
Carolina University, and Elizabeth City State University, have textbook-rental
policies. Fayetteville State University had a rental policy for 25 years
before ending it this past fall. Appalachian is currently considering
abolishing its rental system.
Ultimately, no one solution will provide the answer for any university.
It is through awareness and education, as well as an openness to considering
a number of strategies, that we can make textbooks affordable for our
students.
The links below
represent a number of perspectives and alternatives -- from the GAO
to campus bookstores to faculty reports to student PIRGs to mainstream
media coverage. They are not exhaustive, but are representative of
a multitude of viewpoints and possible solutions.
Major
Studies on Textbook Prices
General
Accounting Office Report on Textbook Pricing, July 29, 2005
This report doesn't have any pat answers, but comprehensively
lays out the scope of the problems.
Highlights of this report include:
• Textbook prices have risen at an average of 6% each year
since 1987, compared with overall average price increases of 3%.
• Since 1986, textbook prices have nearly tripled, increasing
by 186%, while tuition and fees have increased by 240%. Overall
inflation since this time increased by 72%.
• The cost of textbooks and supplies as a percentage of
overall tuition and fees is 72% for community college students.
For students at four-year public institutions, the cost of textbooks
is 26% of their college tuition and fees.
• Textbook "add-ons" such as CD-ROMS and other
supplemental materials often contribute to the rising cost of
textbooks.
Abstract
of GAO Report
PDF
of Full GAO Report
A Report on Textbook Purchasing
Practices and Costs in the Commonwealth,
January 2006
State Council for Higher Education for Virginia just completed
this study.
Two central conclusions of this report:
• The National
Association of College Stores (NACS) reports that textbook rental
programs could save students as much as 50% of the cost of course
materials per semester, as compared to the cost of purchasing
those same materials new. However, it is important to note that
rental programs would restrict the ability of faculty to change
textbooks from year to year. Faculty expressed concern that such
restrictions will negate their academic freedom, particularly
when students do not respond well to the text because of problems
such as difficulty with overall readability, understanding of
the text and its techniques, and complex language. Further, the
bookstore managers SCHEV surveyed viewed such programs negatively.
Also, such programs may be inappropriate for large, research-oriented
public universities because of prohibitive start-up and maintenance
costs related to inventory, staffing, and administration.
• All institutions surveyed by SCHEV indicated a commitment
to a thriving used textbook market as the key to mitigating the
cost of textbooks for students. The industry standard, according
to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) July 2005
report, is “a price that is equal to 75 percent of the new
price of the same book, so that if the new book price increases
by 3 percent, the used book also increases by 3 percent.”
Those institutions which are not practicing at least at the industry
standard should seek to adopt such standards.
PDF of full SCHEV Report
A
Guide to Establishing Textbook Rental Services and Other Alternative
Business Models,
January 2003
The California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Education
Fund
Student PIRGS across
the nation have been advocating for textbook rental systems. This
is a how-to report on setting up rental services.
This guide is designed to help schools develop a viable model
that will best fit each individual campus, based on lessons drawn
from
existing rental services.
PDF of full CALPIRG Report
Faculty
Perspectives
Professors
Try To Make It Easier For Students To Get Used: Seven hundred
math, physics teachers call for fewer textbook revisions
College
Bookstore Perspectives
The National
Association of College Stores has a number of FAQs on textbooks.
Here are a few that are interesting.
FAQ
on College Textbooks FAQ on Bundles
FAQ on Used Textbooks
FAQ on Textbook Rentals
Student
Perspectives
Make
Texts Affordable website is set up as a joint project of a number
of student PIRGS and student senates and associations across the nation.
It has a number of suggestions that bear consideration. One of the
most interesting may be setting up a student textbook exchange program.
While there are numerous laudable ideas, one of the most interesting
may be setting up a swap site for students at your university -- a
student textbook exchange program. Several university bookstores offer
this as an alternative to buying back texts.
Here's a quick description of one:
The Bookexchange is a free application to facilitate communication
between students that want to sell textbooks and students that want
to buy textbooks. It operates like a classified ad system; sellers
can post textbooks for sale, and buyers can browse the listings (there
is also a search feature to save time). For instance, at Brigham Young
University, since one officially launched last December, over 2,000
books have been sold using the Book Exchange. On average, Book Exchange
prices are 45 percent lower than the new book price at the Bookstore
and 27 percent lower than the used book price.
Textbook
Prices in the News
Swelling
Textbook Costs Have College Students Saying 'Pass' -- Jan. 6,
2006, Washington Post
Sometimes, It's Not the Tuition, It's the Textbooks -- Sept. 4,
2005, The New York Times
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