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It's a business like any other. Is the price worth it to the buyer? "What ever the market will bear", is the way it works.
College students have another reason to grumble when buying textbooks -- pass codes.
Publishing companies are increasingly bundling textbooks with the passwords used to gain access to Web sites, said Karl Munschy, Augusta State University's director of business services. And sometimes, there is no textbook to accompany the pass code.
College of Education students, for instance, are forking over about $90 for LiveText, an online program that digitally creates a portfolio that follows them through their course work.
It's a "folded piece of paper," so it's hard for some students to understand the high cost, Mr. Munschy said.
Such pass codes are good for only one semester and once opened can't be returned, which makes it pricier for students, he said.
"Publishers love it, obviously," he said. "We're seeing it more and more all the time."
Students are learning, though, that bookstores aren't to blame, Mr. Munschy said. The bookstores are passing on the high prices established by the publishing companies.
"If we were here for a profit motive, it would be much more frustrating," he said of the campus bookstore.
Despite that, when Crystle Tollison thinks of textbooks, she hears "Cha-ching." Last year, the ASU junior spent $600 on textbooks, and on Monday she paid $90 for LiveText.
"It's basically a piece of paper with a password," Ms. Tollison said.
Candace, her sister, who was shopping with her, paid $400 for four textbooks, and that was just for one anatomy class.
"Mom's happy," Crystle Tollison said with a bit of sarcasm.
Graduate student Willie Robinson also bought LiveText but said he understands the cost.
"You buy it one time and you have it for the whole program," he said.
Throughout the country, the cost of college textbooks has been outpacing inflation, growing twice as fast, said Jennifer Libertowski, a spokeswoman for the National Association of College Stores. She also noted that education costs have risen significantly across the board, citing rapidly increasing tuition costs.
Electronic textbooks such as LiveText are "popping up here and there," Ms. Libertowski said. Anecdotally, the number of pass codes bundled with textbooks are increasing also.
Students should keep in mind that the costs of these resources reflect the high cost to develop them, she said.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
ANOTHER ROUTE
Two Web sites, www.chegg.com and www.bookrenter.com, allow college students to rent textbooks cheaply instead of shell out hundreds of dollars for books they must keep or sell back for pennies on the dollar.
The sites let students look up books and rent them for one term, much like checking out books at a library. Students can choose from new and used books and can even pay more if they decide to keep the book.
-- Modesto Bee
THE COST OF A TEXTBOOK
When you buy a college textbook, where does your money go? Here's the breakdown on average for every dollar you spend:
32.1 CENTS: Publisher's paper, printing and editorial costs
15.3 CENTS: Publisher's marketing costs
11.6 CENTS: Author income
10.8 CENTS: College bookstore personnel
9.9 CENTS: Publisher's general and administrative costs
7.2 CENTS: College bookstore operations
7 CENTS: Publisher's income after tax
4.4 CENTS: College bookstore income pre-tax
1.7 CENTS: Freight expense
Source: National Association of College Stores
Comments
It's a business like any other. Is the price worth it to the buyer? "What ever the market will bear", is the way it works.
The price of textbook is outrageous, even though I understand where the costs originate. The problem I have is that once a student has completed a class and wants to sell the textbook, even though it may be in excellent condition, he can only sell it for a fraction of what he paid! My children have found it cheaper to go online and buy used copies, if possible. These usually work for the purpose and they have saved hundreds of dollars doing so.
I do the same thing workingmom, I buy used at cheaper prices online than I do at even the brown cow bookstore sells them. I can't afford mistakes and I can't afford to wait on them so they have to be express mailed overnight which is still slightly cheaper than they cost at bookstores around there.
It's amazing how the newspaper and people support these businesses ripping people off. Please tell me why a textbook costs so much more than most other books? Books can be reused and reused, but professors insist on using the most recent editions, which always cost more and don't have a lot of changes from previous editions. Please tell me why an introductory accounting course textbook costs $163? Does accounting change that much every year? Does math? does English? It's a racquet and students are getting ripped off. Buy books online - they can save a ton of money.
noway, it gets even more frustrating when you realize that college textbooks often contain less useful real-world information than the books you can get at Barnes and Noble or Borders. Why are college textbooks so high? Because despite what Karl Munschy says, colleges ARE about making a profit. Why else would they mark up their books 22.4%? As a small business owner, I would LOVE to have a captive market that I could sell to at such a markup. In the real-world we would call it price gouging or unfair competition, in the surreal world of academia, I guess they are simply trying to provide an object lesson in basic economics.
Take a minute to compare the editions . . . . it is the difference of a chapter - or even a particular section of a chapter. I agree it is a scam. The university needs to act an advocate for the students and stop purchasing new editions every semester - just stick with the earlier editions - and use the internet for more recent information. Stop making the students pay the price for greedy publishers! This LiveText program is also absurd, $100 for absolutely nothing but a template! Come on ASU!
That’s what they make scholarships and parents for.
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