As students at universities and colleges across the country prepare for another semester of study, many express concern over the high cost of college textbooks.
philip vukelich | rawr
Andrew McGeachin, sophomore, purchases books for the spring semester at the Vandal Store. McGeachin’s most expensive book was an online book for an accounting class, costing $111.
The National Association of College Stores calculates the average college student paying $655 for a year’s worth of textbooks and supplies. Has it always been this way? Have textbooks always been so expensive? No, says an American Enterprise Institute study by Mark Perry, which reveals an 812 percent increase in the price of required course material at universities since 1978.
According to Kathleen Norris, a head textbook buyer at the University of Idaho VandalStore, the publishing companies give the bookstore a net price in which the bookstore adds a margin of 23 percent to textbooks, which barely covers the bookstores overhead, shipping and utility costs.
Norris said she often checks Amazon.com and other online bookstores for cheaper prices to try and lower the overall cost of textbooks, and even if the bookstore does turn a profit, the money is given to the university to spend. Norris, a veteran in the game of buying college textbooks, she said she has noticed a significant increase in net prices by publishers and wholesalers, possibly due to higher overhead costs and royalty costs.
Norris said the bookstore recognizes textbooks are expensive and place a heavy burden on students, which is why the bookstore does a buy-back program at the end of the semester and a rental program.
Norris did share the three main wholesalers the UI bookstore does business with — Missouri Book Service, Nebraska Book Company and Follett Corporation. All of these corporations are not making tremendous profit or notable growth, according to Michael Bathon of Bloomberg magazine.
Nebraska Book Company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, only to stay afloat through a major change in management. However, large textbook publishing companies are reporting tremendous growth and large profits, like the leading textbook publishing company, Pearson. According to the “Publishers Weekly.” Pearson reported a profit of 600 million Euros for 2007 and in 2011 reported another profit increase to 950 million Euros.
With an upcoming semester of coursework to complete, UI students and students across the nation are starting to feel the burden of higher textbook prices. Anna Kay, a sophomore at UI said she was not shocked by the textbook prices but it still was costly.
Kay said she tends to feel taken advantage of by the bookstore because of the prices. With the dramatic increase textbook costs, students are starting to find alternatives to buying a new textbook from the university bookstore like buying used textbooks, renting textbooks or ordering them online.
Cara Pantone, a sophomore at U I said she will go to Amazon.com or halfbooks.com if the bookstore is out of used books.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]
