 "Photo: Bureau of Labor Statistics")
Students at colleges and universities around the country know all too well what the biggest hidden cost at the beginning of an academic semester is. It's not new clothes or accessories. It's not all that junk food college students love to consume. The largest hidden cost is by far textbooks.
A recent investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), spearheaded by Oregon congressman David Wu in concert with Public Interest Research Groups, confirmed what many have known for a long time: Textbooks and supplies, as a percentage of tuition and fees, is 26 percent for a full-time student attending a four-year public institution, 72 percent for a full-time student attending a two-year public institution and eight percent at a four-year private institution.
"Sometimes, in our society, we focus on making money," said Bill Simmons, president of the CU-Denver Student Government Association. "[When we do that] we lose perspective on where we should blur the lines," Simmons said, suggesting that textbook publishers put profits ahead of the needs of millions of college students. "At what point do you realize you're sticking it to the students?" Simmons asked.
The GAO research found that textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of annual inflation over the last two decades, an average of six percent each year since 1987-1988, compared with overall price increases of three percent per year. Their report states that textbook prices have nearly tripled, increasing by 186 percent, while tuition and fees have increased by 240 percent. Overall inflation since this time has increased by 72 percent.
According to the Association of American Publishers, a trade association representing publishers in every sector of publishing, net sales of higher education textbooks were $3.27 billion in 2002, $3.39 billion in 2003 and $3.45 billion in 2004.
The report places some of the blame for the increased prices on textbook "add-ons" - CD-ROMs and other supplemental materials.
Publishers told the GAO, according to the report, that the increased number of supplemental materials - CD-ROMs, supplemental texts and Web-based tutorials - are due to increased numbers of part-time faculty "who need additional teaching support," and that instructors are requesting more supplements to "enhance student learning."
The GAO counters that claim. "Wholesalers, retailers and others suggest that while supplements may be of value to students, the increasing practice of packaging them with textbooks effectively limits the students' ability to purchase less expensive used books," they report.
Another factor the GAO suggests leads to increased book prices is frequent revisions, which in most cases, prevents the student from being able to sell the book back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. According to the report publishers generally agree that the revision cycle for many books is three to four years, compared with four to five years that were standard 10 to 20 years ago,. The publishers interviewed by the GAO said revisions were necessary to keep the materials current for faculty and "to recoup their investments," implying that money is at least a small motivator for revisions.
A third factor for skyrocketing costs is that textbooks are sold to American students at prices significantly higher than those sold to students in other countries. A comparison made by the Colorado student chapter of Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) found one book sold to British students for $65, to Canadian students for $97 and to students in the United States for $125. The GAO said the publishers told them that textbooks are produced primarily for the U.S. market; once they have recouped their costs they can sell books at a lower price in other countries since the cost of printing additional copies is relatively low.
The GAO report was given to the Departments of Labor and Education for comment. The Department of Labor, whose data was used for some of the report, said the use of the data was correct. The Department of Education did not comment. The GAO also said they received written comments from the National Association of College Stores (NACS) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The report states that the NACS agreed that the report "accurately portrayed the textbook industry." The AAP agreed with some findings in the report, "but expressed concern with respect to the data sources we used in our analyses and with characterizations provided by retailers and wholesalers on the impact of publisher practices on students."
"We carefully reviewed the data sources available on college textbook pricing, and found the data we used to be the most complete and reliable data available for our purposes," said the GAO.
Simmons said the student government is working on a proposal they intend to present to the faculty assembly, encouraging professors to find ways to combat the cost of textbooks for the average student. The non-binding proposal will ask professors to use old editions of books whenever possible, and if they have to require a new edition, isolate the new information and make it easily available. The proposal will also ask professors to order books as early as possible to maximize the time a student has to shop around for books. Simmons believes if he takes a proposal like this to the faculty assembly "they'll be open to it." Simmons hopes to have the proposal written by mid-September, and in front of the faculty assembly by December. He hopes the initiative will have some affect on textbook prices for the Spring 2006 semester.
Cory Nadler, a professional organizer for the UCD chapter of CoPIRG, said textbook practices are adversely impacting students. "They're [publishers] impairing students' ability to fulfill the higher education experience without giving anything in return with the new editions. That's just not acceptable."
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