Starting in July Textbook Prices to be Provided During Class Registration

How about adding to the requirement the cost of the book to the institution so students/parents can see how much the school is making. It would also be nice to know why these books are not available in an electronic format which would sharply decrease the cost. Since tuition has always increased way beyond inflation it would be nice to know that colleges/universities are looking at ways to ease the burden. So far every time a tax credit becomes available costs rise more than the credit so those who pay never gain benefit – it all goes to the colleges.

Often textbooks are not available anywhere except in college and university book stores. So not only does the student pay “full price” for the book, but usually an additional surcharge that benefits the college.
These books are always heinously overpriced anyway! They come out with one and instead of using the same one next year so students can purchase used books, they make a tiny change or two and come out with a “new” book. Or change textbooks entirely.
The truth is, many college level classes could be taught with NO textbook at all. Let the professor lecture and let the students do research on their own. Some colleges used to do exactly that with great success.

Personally, I think college textbooks are WAY over-priced. Even the used books are ridiculously priced. I remember buying every book as a freshman – $600+, after that I stopped buying the books unless they were really necessary (like math).

Speaking as a professor who orders books, it’s a good thing if students have time to look for books. I often try to use older editions of the book which can be found for under $25. Sadly, I find students who just went to the book store and paid $150 for the book (this type of pricing really annoys me about the book store–they encourage us to get older revisions to “save students money,” yet it mainly means they can just increase the profit margin). Sadly, a large part of the problem is students not looking into where they can buy the book. Many do, but many are just content to buy from the book store.

Chris wrote: “Personally, I think college textbooks are WAY over-priced. Even the used books are ridiculously priced. I remember buying every book as a freshman – $600+, after that I stopped buying the books unless they were really necessary (like math).”
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Some of us have gone to colleges where the books for EVERY class were really necessary!
You have to remember that college books have relatively small sales – there are much fewer copies printed than for a high school algebra class or a best seller.
Even in the 1970′s, in graduate school, I was paying around $85 per textbook for books on quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, spectroscopy, polymer science, peptides proteins and amino acids, etc.

I work for a college that has a Follet bookstore and they are two separate entitys. The college makes no profit from the books themselves. They may make a profit from renting space to Follet, but I have no knowledge of that for sure. The real problem as I see it at my institution is the publisher. They have a set price that the bookstore must charge for the textbook and that price is normally over 100% of the cost of the book. AND the bookstore cannot compete with Amazon or any other online textbook supplier (and there are several). If someone were to look at the publisher’s cost of the textbook compared to what Follet MUST charge to sell the book, many eyes would be opened, and quickly.
On campus bookstores are going out of business because of the publishers. When faculty have their books selected early in the summer for the fall classes, the students can then go online and purchase the books from a cheaper place. Which makes sense. Except the bookstore is left with a tremendous order of books that they cannot sell, make any money at all on, and then are forced to return what is not purchased, and lay off employees.
Just my two sense from my side of the fence.

“Even in the 1970′s, in graduate school, I was paying around $85 per textbook for books on quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, spectroscopy, polymer science, peptides proteins and amino acids, etc.” I was at UCLA in the 1970s and the average cost of new textbooks at the time (calculus, linear algebra, biology, chemistry, physics, biochem, etc.) was about $25 each and each quarter I spent between $120 to $150. They were terse, no-nonsense, black and white, formal eduction texts for students who actually had a reason to get a college degree. I would bet that most of the college students today couldn’t get through them.

The new law, which ought to significantly expand the purchasing choices for students, is itself a reflection on how much the textbook industry has changed recently because of the internet.
Online marketplaces are flourishing, the pool of used books is expanding, students are saving vast sums of money, and innovative alternative textbook companies are rapidly emerging that significantly challenge the old way of doing business.
The requirement of institutions and their bookstores to make the book information available will further help foster these alternatives but the law is also a recognition of their success—students now have great alternatives; they just need the information to help them find it. If these successes were not so impressive, there would be little point to the law.

As a father of 2 kids in college, I could care less about paying an average of $667 for textbooks. What’s being done to lower the $22,000 I pay per year for one to go to our sate university and $42,000 for the other to go to a local private liberal arts college? We need to focus on the big picture. I’m sure very few people drop out of college because they can’t afford the cost of course materials.

OK it’s obviously time for a few FACTS.
* College stores are committed to keeping the cost of course materials as affordable as possible for their students, while still remaining economically viable. They make a profit of approximately 6.3 cents on every dollar spent on a new textbook. Of that, much of it goes back to support the institution and provide scholarships.
* Textbooks are rented for an average of one-third the cost of the new book. At institutionally owned stores, faculty have to agree to use the same edition for at least 4 semesters for it to be economically feasible.
* College stores have championed used books for years to help make textbooks more affordable for students. On average, if faculty have their adoptions in on time, they pay students 50% of the new book price at buyback and sell the used book at 75% of new.
* There’s also the benefit of buying/renting local. Students can be assured that some of their $$s is going to pay the salary of the local store worker — often a fellow student. Spending their money with a large corporation based halfway accross the country gives no benefit to the local economy and workers at all.
– Charles S, Dir. of PR, NACS

If this is the case, who do I speak to to get a list of my textbooks? I registered for my classes a few days ago at the University of Arkansas, but I haven’t received a list or any ISBN numbers of the textbooks for each class and frankly, I’m a little annoyed.
Do the institutions suffer any penalties if they don’t abide by it?