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Textbook trials

Students are faced with expensive books, changing editions

By Lisa Street
Senior Staff Writer

College textbook publishers are inflating the price of textbooks and selling bundled materials students rarely use in class, a new report claims.

"Ripoff 101," issued by the Texas Public Interest Research Group, found that students are paying an average of $898 per year for textbooks. PIRG expects that amount to increase as publishers release newer editions that spokesman Luke Metzger said have small changes in content.

"Once a publisher stops producing a textbook edition, all previous copies become obsolete," Metzger said at a press conference at the University Center on Thursday. "It's outrageous that students pay $40 more for a book (when its) changes aren't significantly different from the used edition."

Students agreed.

"When the new edition only has a few changes, you want to use the old edition," kinesiology junior Nirju Tailor said. "I was lucky and got my physics book from my friend. Some books come in packages of two, and that's where it hits you hard."

Textbook selection is done by faculty members; once they make their decisions, the bookstore carries out the orders. Textbooks packaged with additional learning components, like CD-ROMS, Web access passwords and additional manuals are priced higher than single books.

Mathematics department Chairman Jeff Morgan said faculty members have a great deal of control when it comes to textbook selection and should exercise that control to bring down the prices of textbooks.

"Prices are negotiable," Morgan said. "Faculty members need to make educated decisions, look at prices and think about the value to the student."

Students said they have trouble selling packaged books back to the University bookstore. That's because professors may not select the same package for their course the following semester, John Bolch, textbook manager at the University Bookstore, said -- and the bookstore won't buy all the materials back unless it is sure the professor will use them in the future.

The bookstore buys new and used textbooks back for 50 percent of their original sale prices if they can be used again. The used books are then re-sold at a 25 percent markup, a wider profit margin than the bookstore gets from selling new books.

Bookstores receive 22.4 percent of new textbook costs, while 66 percent goes to the publisher and 11.6 percent to the books' authors, according to the National Association of College Stores.

The bookstore is trying to help, even if it receives the more expensive textbook bundles when students only need a single book, Bolch said. The store has adopted a "value option" in which the packages are broken down and components sold individually.

But in the end, students said they often find shortages of used books on the shelves.

"A lot of the time, there aren't any used books in the store, so the only choice is to buy a new one," mechanical engineering junior Adriana Yacelga said. "Then the editions change every year -- it's ridiculous."

With additional reporting by Staff Writer Lindsey Bowers.

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