FOR STUDENTS and parents who struggle to keep up with rising tuition costs, textbooks can be a heavy burden. And no, I don't just mean their weight. While most students start each term excited about their new classes, hefty book prices don't exactly encourage running to the college bookstore. According to various studies, such as the ones published by Student Monitor, the College Board and the Government Accountability Office in 2005, it has been reported that the average student is spending between $650 and $900 a year on textbooks. This staggering amount is almost three times what students were spending 20 years ago and adds up to around 26 percent of the cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public institution. In fact, students and their families spent more than $6 billion on new and used textbooks in the 2003-2004 academic year, says the GAO report.
The concern over spiraling prices prompted state legislators to introduce more than 40 bills and resolutions in 15 states this past year, Virginia included, but so far there has yet to be an improvement. Virginia, for example, now "requires faculty to acknowledge prices in writing and disclose whether they use bundled items," reports USA TODAY. This is obviously not a law that will help lower prices. But while the University has done nothing to reduce the strain of prices on its students, other colleges have taken matters into their own hands.
Textbook rental, for example, defrays the high prices and of college texts by offering affordable, used textbook copies for rental rather than purchase. The success of this program depends on clear program definition, faculty buy-in, funding and effective communication with the campus community about the high costs of textbooks. While only one percent of the National Association of College Stores reported using this program in 2006, more are sure to follow.
Instead of buying books, students pay a per-credit or per-book flat fee at the beginning of the course and return the book after finals. The cost per class, which never runs more than $20, allows students to actually pay around $80 per semester. But the books must be returned at the end of the semester in good condition, and, in the event of a course drop, textbooks must be returned immediately. If students do not return their books, however, they are billed for the full price.
In essence, these programs work much like the buying and selling University students do, except you are buying and returning them to the same place.
"I actually have a friend who had to drop required classes because he couldn't afford the books," says University student Cecilia Haynes. "He doesn't come from a very affluent family and his books were really expensive."
"I spent $670 on books this semester," agrees University student Traci Kelly. "$650. It's insane."
The blame for the cost of textbooks, which is increasing at an average of six percent per year -- faster even than the rate of inflation -- is easy enough to pinpoint. Publishers, who have become greedier with every passing year, are resorting to sly methods and subtle deceptions to raise prices. Bundled textbooks, for example, which may include extras such as study guides, Web site access, CD-ROMs and more, can cost up to twice as much as the book by itself.
According to the College Board, the extra material added to the books is rarely used by students or professors, yet many publishers refuse to sell what they call "stripped" books. There are also a significant number of books that change editions for no apparent reason. The California Student Public Interest Research Group found in 2004, that the average release time between textbook editions is 3.8 years, regardless of whether the information has changed since the previous version. Of the books surveyed, new editions cost around 58 percent more than the older version, even if they barely had any new material at all.
Renting, then, seems to be the only plausible solution. Education is expensive enough as it is without students having to wonder whether they should take a class or not. If the University can afford to hand out free movie rentals to its students, then why not invest in a textbook rental system? It would certainly make the students happier.
Andrea Arango's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at aarango@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 4 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 5 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
