According to a recent study by the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group, the cost of college textbooks is steadily increasing -- and publishers are doing nothing to help bring prices back down.
OSPIRG's recent report, "Ripoff 101: How the Current Practices of the Publishing Industry Drive Up the Cost of College Textbooks," found that students spent an average of $898 on textbooks in 2002-03, while in 1996-97, the average was $642.
The Penn Office of Undergraduate Admissions estimates that students spent an average of $810 on books and supplies for classes this academic year.
A large part of this costly problem stems from the "extras" that are packaged with many textbooks -- a relatively new practice, according to OSPIRG Campus Program Director Ben Unger.
The CD-ROMs and workbooks that often come bundled with a textbook "are not all that often used by the faculty who teach the courses, but do drive up the cost quite a bit," he said.
Unger added that students rarely have the option of buying a textbook "… la carte" in such cases, even though OSPIRG's study found that 65 percent of professors said they "rarely or never" used any of the items that came bundled with the textbooks they ordered.
College sophomore Jonathan Alson agreed, adding that the only thing bundling materials does is help publishers "make more money."
"I've definitely had a countless number of textbooks packaged with the extra workbook," he said. "And I've never opened one."
However, Associate Director of the Undergraduate Mathematics Program Edward Crotty said that he encourages his students to take advantage of bundled materials -- even if they do not contain specific assignments.
"For instance, the Math Department bundles a Maple workbook with the math books for Math 104, 114, 240 and 241," he said. "It's primarily intended as a student reference ... but it's a good idea that students have it because it's a nice, compact source for information they wouldn't find otherwise."
According to Unger, another reason that money spent on textbooks has been on the rise lately is the frequent production of new editions -- which forces students to buy the book new rather than purchase it used.
"Our report recommends that publishers stop producing new editions unless there is new academic content in them," he said. "Calculus hasn't changed in the last couple hundred years, but every couple years, publishing companies are producing brand new editions where they've only changed color schemes and photos."
Although Crotty agreed that "some books just rearrange chapter headings and try to make a few bucks more off of it," he also added that while calculus itself has not changed over the years, methods of teaching it have -- making some new editions quite useful.
However, the biggest problem is the cost of textbooks in general, Unger said, adding that the textbook publishers have a corner on the market.
"It all comes back to this overall thought that textbooks should be priced and sold at a reasonable cost," he said. "Publishers should keep the cost of the book as cheap as possible. The books don't need to be all fancy and have cloth pages and gold lettering."
Unger added that OSPIRG recently sent a letter to publishers demanding cheaper, unbundled textbooks and fewer new editions -- but said that he has been disappointed with the responses he has received.
"Publishers continue to claim that they are only responding to market demands," he said.
"The whole reason we wrote the report was to prove that the opposite was true. Teachers aren't demanding new editions or bundled materials."
But despite such responses from publishers, Unger said he remains optimistic.
OSPIRG is currently collecting signatures from mathematics professors for a letter to Thompson Learning -- a textbook publishing company -- asking the company to make its calculus textbook less expensive and to create fewer new editions.
"The letter is basically saying, 'until you change your ways, we're going to look other places for our calculus books,'" Unger said.
Additionally, according to Unger, there are currently several legislators and congressmen proposing legislation that would help solve the problems with overpriced textbooks as well.
Unger added that the best advice he can give to college students across the nation is to "take the market into their own hands" by forming their own used book exchanges.
