Students returning to fall semester classes are facing stickershock in college bookstores. Textbooks that formerly ran $40 to $80 a few years ago, now cost $200 and $300 each.
As a
result, students’ textbook-buying behavior is changing.
According to a survey of students reported in a recent
Chronicle of Higher Education, more college students are viewing
textbooks as recommended rather than required and are waiting to see how much
the material is used before they buy them.
A 2015
survey by OnCampus Research found that student spending on class materials
dropped from $638 in the 2013-14 academic year to $563 for the 2014-15 year.
In addition to students waiting to see whether the
materials will actually be used in class, part of this drop was a shift to
cheaper textbook rental.
About 11
percent of students now have some courses that use new “integrated
learning systems,” where the text, videos, quizzes and homework are
delivered online.
Publishers have realized at big
research universities that value only research, many instructors of large
classes are glad to turn over these teaching duties to a publisher’s
online system. This essentially turns the lecture course into a prepackaged
operation that is impersonal and standardized.
The production cost for a paper textbook is actually very low. Most $200 textbooks could be profitably sold to students for $40, if it were not for the electronic ancillaries and support services that publishers feel they must provide to compete. Those are extra “bells and whistles” that most students do not use.
Meanwhile, surveys of college students reveal that they continue to overwhelmingly prefer paper text over e-texts for a variety of reasons that are supported by research on deep reading, reading speed, comprehension and skimming.
Some
professors are sensitive to their students’ dilemmas and recognize the
legalized extortion involved. They are encouraging colleagues to not require a
textbook if they don’t use it!
Some make textbook
adoption decisions based on the best-book-at-the-cheapest-price and only adopt
a text after it has been on the market a semester, so there are used books
available.
One
solution that is not working is the use of “open source” online
materials. Depending upon the discipline, there can be serious concerns with
quality. Copyright-free material is often out-of-date.
Good publishers subject texts to careful peer review that
is often missing in open source materials that are cobbled together from
questionable sources. And online open source materials continue to have the
drawbacks of e-texts and other electronic media.
Royalties
to authors of bonafide textbooks are rarely a factor in the high costs of
textbooks.
Copyright is not the problem driving up
textbook costs.
Thanks to Dr. John Richard Schrock for
permission to reprint this insightful article. Dr. Schrock is a professor at
Emporia State University in Kansas.
The September 13-16 Graph Expo show at McCormick Place would be a perfect time to stop by our plant and see our digital printing team in action.
We’ll give you a tour of Copresco’s modern digital printing plant. Then, you can enjoy a cup of coffee or lunch with us.
This year’s largest
graphic arts conference is in Chicago
Here’s how to get from Chicago
to Copresco
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