UCD Advocate

Issue date: 8/31/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics A graph included in the GAO report shows the disparity between the increases in book prices, tuition and fees, and overall inflation since 1986.

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."

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