The Maryland Legislature has considered legislation in the past that would help regulate the sale of textbooks. Fundamentally, the textbook market is flawed because those who select the good (professors) do not purchase the good (students). In other words, without the appropriate attention to the cost of textbooks, market forces do not drive down the cost.
Textbook publishers over the years have taken advantage of this arrangement through a number of strategies. Some providers simply do not provide the cost of materials when advertising books to professors. Others bundle books with unnecessary supplemental materials. Publishers also update copies of textbooks as frequently as every 18 to 24 months, in order to make old editions obsolete.
Delegate Craig Rice and Senator Paul Pinsky are sponsoring legislation, House Bill 85 , regulating the sale of textbooks in Maryland. Highlights of the bill include requiring institutions to publish textbook selections with ISBN numbers well before the beginning of the semester, requiring bundled and unbundled packages to be sold, requiring that publishers provide the cost of textbooks to professors during textbook selection, and requiring the development of a process to ensure professors recognize the cost of course materials.
I support the bill wholeheartedly, although there likely will have to be some minor revisions to ensure passage. What are your thoughts? What have been your experiences buying textbooks? What could be included in legislation to make the cost of textbooks more affordable for you?
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I'm not sure if/how this would be possible, but I would like to see true cost representation in "e-books." After the price of materials, printing, and shipping are deducted from the cost of an e-book (not to mention bookstore overhead since publishers can directly sell access online), e-books should be significantly cheaper than physical textbooks and provide a cheaper, environmentally-friendly alternative to physical textbooks.
This, unfortunately, is not the case. Although the costs of production/shipping are obviously significantly lower, publishers/bookstores sell the 'e-book' version of texts at very close to the cost of the physical book. I've seen $10-$20 price differences on a book that costs around $200.
Because e-books can not be re-sold, they need to be cheaper to be worth the money. Some online texts only give you access for 1-2 semesters, so you're actually essentially 'borrowing' the book, not even purchasing it.
I have no idea how this could be implemented without infringing on the rights of a private company to charge whatever they'd like, but this is one of my biggest frustrations.
Another frustration I have is that at UMBC, if you are dependent on financial aid for book money, you often don't get the money until two weeks into class (actually that is the POLICY, not just the general occurrence.) So, the school provides access of to up to $600 worth of materials from the bookstore if you are a full-time student with more than $600 in loan checks headed your way.
This is highly problematic because it forces students who clearly have to watch how they spend their money to buy overpriced books in order to have them by the time school starts. I'm going through this now and I have to either wait two weeks for my loan checks to arrive or spend an extra $150 at the bookstore buying overpriced books.
I don't know about other people on financial aid, but I don't really have $150 to throw out. I need... I don't know... groceries, instead?
I'm out of milk.
I would like to see a sales tax holiday on textbook purchases. Saving that 6% at the checkout might not seem like much, but when you're spending $200+ per book, that adds up.
@ minteh: Thanks for posting. Check out Chegg, a new online textbook provider (http://www.chegg.com). Should have some lower prices. My bet is that as more people move to online and e-books, the price will go down.
Let's follow up more on the financial aid allowance...I would like to learn more.
@ Steelwolf: In 2007, the estimated "cost" or loss of revenue was around $22 million for tax free textbooks per year. In relative terms, that's frozen tuition for three semesters, or half of a new building. The tax free holiday is an interesting idea. Possibly even tax free if bought through a campus bookstore might be a good incentive.
@Josh Michael
Why would we want to encourage students to buy overpriced books at campus bookstores? =[
Anyone who buys textbooks from the campus bookstore is a fool. Even brand new books usually go for half their price on the internet...
Amazon.com
Enough said.
wankeye is completely right...
http://www.gettextbooks.com/ will save you hundreds of dollars per semester on books...
Amazon.com and textbook torrents.
This semester I've saved about $450 on textbooks.
I bought all my textbooks from www.textbooks.com. Saves you lots of money and has free shipping too. Even has guaranteed buyback for some books, usually they buy it back at half the price.
It hurts to buy books. I get my tuition paid and there's a feeling of relief... until you get to the bookstore and empty what's left of your checking account for new editions of books where only one chapter deviates from the old edition. :(
Okay, I am a Maryland Higher Ed student and I have a number of questions regarding the issue of textbook affordability; if anyone can answer any of these questions I would be greatly appreciative...
How are schools creating/advancing networking programs specifically designed for textbook sales/swapping? Are these efforts being made by students, administration, or outside vendors? Do the schools seem to support these programs? Are there other endeavors being made beyond networking programs that seem to be working? What can students do to lobby on behalf of textbook affordability; what would we say to our legislators? What incentives, if any, can students provide faculty for taking a more proactive stance on this issue? Who should we be talking with at our schools for the advancement of textbook affordability initiatives if our SGA does not seem to be proactive?
@ the latest anon: terrific questions...looks like a great Q&A post with your student regent...will get it up sometime soon in a new blog posting.
check out this site www.bookase.com. It help you save a lot of money by offering you the lowest price by searching over 65 major online stores worldwide, it will also provide you with the discount coupons and you can choose for the various shipping options to calculate your price
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