2008 Woodie Awards
State bills attempt to curb rising textbook prices
Issue date: 2/7/08
Members of the Maryland General Assembly are considering legislative action to address the increasingly prohibitive costs of college textbooks in the state.
Two bills in the House of Delegates and State Senate, and one that is still being written, aim to curb the costs of textbooks by raising awareness among faculty, enforcing faculty ethics and requiring college bookstores to post International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) for required texts on the Internet.
However, some claim high textbook costs stem more from publisher practices than the actions of faculties or bookstores.
"High textbook prices are caused by the publishers," said Johanna Neumann, advocate for Maryland Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). "PIRG wants to change publisher practices. Publishers have a very powerful, effective lobby."
There are two specific publisher practices that raise prices. One is bundling, or the packaging of multimedia materials, such as compact discs and DVDs, with textbooks. According to Neumann, 65 percent of professors surveyed said they never used bundled materials, which, on average, raises textbook prices between 10 and 15 percent.
"Publishers should offer these materials individually, so professors who choose to use them may still assign them," Neumann said.
The other practice is reluctance from the publishers to disclose the price of their books when meeting with faculty.
"This prevents cost from factoring into professors' decisions when adopting textbooks," Neumann said.
The College Textbook Competition and Affordability Act of 2008, sponsored by Del. Craig Rice of the House Ways and Means Committee, takes publisher practices into account, although it does not aim to control them.
"A lot of times, publishers make a new edition of a textbook and just change the cover art. They make no substantive changes, but all the students go out and buy the new book, making the old books useless," said Alex Gudger, legislative aid to Del. Rice. "It's a burden for students to buy new books each year when it is not at all necessary."
Two bills in the House of Delegates and State Senate, and one that is still being written, aim to curb the costs of textbooks by raising awareness among faculty, enforcing faculty ethics and requiring college bookstores to post International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) for required texts on the Internet.
However, some claim high textbook costs stem more from publisher practices than the actions of faculties or bookstores.
"High textbook prices are caused by the publishers," said Johanna Neumann, advocate for Maryland Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). "PIRG wants to change publisher practices. Publishers have a very powerful, effective lobby."
There are two specific publisher practices that raise prices. One is bundling, or the packaging of multimedia materials, such as compact discs and DVDs, with textbooks. According to Neumann, 65 percent of professors surveyed said they never used bundled materials, which, on average, raises textbook prices between 10 and 15 percent.
"Publishers should offer these materials individually, so professors who choose to use them may still assign them," Neumann said.
The other practice is reluctance from the publishers to disclose the price of their books when meeting with faculty.
"This prevents cost from factoring into professors' decisions when adopting textbooks," Neumann said.
The College Textbook Competition and Affordability Act of 2008, sponsored by Del. Craig Rice of the House Ways and Means Committee, takes publisher practices into account, although it does not aim to control them.
"A lot of times, publishers make a new edition of a textbook and just change the cover art. They make no substantive changes, but all the students go out and buy the new book, making the old books useless," said Alex Gudger, legislative aid to Del. Rice. "It's a burden for students to buy new books each year when it is not at all necessary."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Vegetarian
posted 2/09/08 @ 10:19 PM EST
The cost of textbooks has become a huge burden on students due to the greed of the publishers. Exempting it from sales tax is a good start. I hope they take the time to design a comprhensive bill that will help this situation. (Continued…)
Post a Comment