Textbook Price Issues

Anyway, on to today's textbook information. There has been a lot of talk lately about the rising costs of textbooks, especially college textbooks. While we don't expressly carry college texts we do understand the plight of the average college student. The inflation rate of textbooks has well surpassed the national inflation rate. In an article on MSNBC.com, dated Aug. of 2005, the prices of textbooks have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation. Textbook prices have increased by 186 percent since 1986. You can read the article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8963920/

This article focuses mainly on college textbooks, but the same issues arise in texts for lower grades as well. What does this mean for your average student? It means that publishers are are adding supplemental materials such as software and online access. While these materials are great for a student, the problem lies in the extra cost that is placed on the student or school that is purchasing the books. Often times students do not take advantage of the supplemental materials when they are provided and in many cases the cd-roms that come with the books can only be used on one computer thus eliminating them for future book owners. This is a problem in schools, public schools especially, where books can be used for up to 7 years. Depending on if the school is on semesters, that can be anywhere from 7 to 14 students using any one book.

Here in lies the benefits of used textbooks. Often, a used textbook still contains the original supplemental material because the original owner didn't use it. Used textbook companies can often provide other supplementary materials such as workbooks or cd-roms that did not come with the original package. Most schools can not afford to buy new textbooks every semester (even private schools that usually have a little better funding) so the supplementary materials are lost anyway. Used books "fill in" the lost or damaged books between adoptions. A school could buy those books new, but would it be fair to students for half the class to have brand new books with the supplements and the other half have used books from previous semesters? If a school buys used, then all the students have access to the same materials. If a teacher is worried about missing out by not having the materials I would suggest contacting the publishing company to see about ordering extras. But again, this would cost money and have to be done every semester. Teachers could also go through the supplementary material and choose a few things from it to create exercises that students can do in class every semester.

The rising cost of textbooks is something almost everyone in this country will have to deal with at one point or another. This is a topic we will continue to discuss at some length.

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