Short of proposing to open up an on-campus bar, or to eliminate high-speed internet in the dorms, few topics draw more student ire than textbook prices. (Some of this ire is provoked by lazy or alarmist reporting–few of the books on this list are really “textbooks” in any interesting sense–but there’s no denying that textbook costs are high.) If there’s not a Textbooks Are Too Damn High political party yet, there probably will be soon.
Of course, last year all of this was cured by the entry of the federal government into the textbook market, as rules promulgated in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 finally took effect: Colleges, as part of course registration, have to provide information about textbooks–what the professor’s ordered, the price, and ISBNs. In some classes, this gives students information they need to find cheaper/used editions–or even free ones, via the magic of libraries. In other classes–especially general education courses with dozens of sections, the law simply gives students a second nonacademic reason for choosing a course–cheapest books. (The reigning nonacademic reason is, of course, schedule.)
I like transparency, and so am in general favorably disposed to these sorts of disclosures. And it’s good that everyone has to do it–lots of us used to put textbook information on our websites or blogs before, but now, at least in theory, it’s all available to the students, right at the decision-point where they register for courses. And while sometimes it’s possible to ditch a textbook, it can’t always be done. Likewise, the current state of e-books doesn’t seem geared to support in-class discussion, yet. (If I’m wrong about this, let me know.)
That said, I think that while rules are great, I *also* think that there’s a way to reach out to students before the semester starts and establish the ethos of your course, and textbooks/prices provide the best opportunity to do that.
For example, this semester, my department has redistributed some course assignments, and so last Monday (!) I got assigned a course that had been assigned to someone else. (They didn’t lose their class–actually, they got a fancier one. Also, that’s not as last-minute as it sounds–we don’t start classes until the 24th, which is probably smart, given all the snow/ice removal over the past week.) That means that my course is 1) full of students, who 2) think that the other professor’s booklist is what they need to buy. Problem is, we design courses in a very different way, judging from the book order. Rather than wait for the first day of classes, then, I e-mailed everyone in the class a message that said three things:
- The instructor’s changed,
- The book order has changed–here it is, and
- There are some places you might go online to find the books. (I like isbn.nu, but there are others.)
Since the bookstore won’t have a lot of time to process my order, this will give more students an opportunity to get the books. Also, the message firmly establishes that I take price concerns seriously, but also that, by gum, there are going to be books, and people need to have them. Sometimes, I’ll identify books as likely victims of end-of-semester triage, but that didn’t really apply here.
In upper-division classes, I usually send out a slightly different message:
- Here’s the book order,
- By all means, find cheap editions, but pay attention to ISBNs! (I teach Victorian novels, and if you’re trying to discuss a 900-page novel, people need to be on the same literal page. Also, not-all editions have the same text–there are different versions of Oliver Twist floating around, for example. These things matter, given the way I run my in-class sessions.)
- Also, please read [very short, freely available texts X & Y] for the first class.
This message usually goes out even before the end of the previous term. Victorian novel classes usually also get the likely sequence of books, for students who want to get ahead of, or just manage, the reading. In general, this e-mail sends the same message: On the one hand, I’m persnickety about the books, but, on the other hand, here are tools for finding them as cheaply as possible.
A drawback of this pre-semester e-mail strategy is that I have to pay more attention to changes in the class list than is entirely sane. After all, if some students are getting information about the class, then you have an obligation to make sure others are getting it as well.* Also, you will very occasionally get a tightly-wound student who wants to conduct the entire course over 1-on-1 e-mails, even before the semester starts.
But those are small prices to pay for letting students know that you recognize they’re in your course, and that you have thought about issues that concern them. When you walk into the first day of class, you’re not doing so cold, but rather as someone sharing a common intellectual project for a few months. Also, explaining a bit about how you put a class together can forestall a certain amount of resentment. Students might not *love* the fact that you ordered 25 coffee-table books for your 1-credit class, but they’ll at least recognize that you weren’t just adding books willy-nilly.
What strategies do you use to mitigate textbook costs? Do you contact your students before the semester starts? Let us know in comments!
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24 Responses to Textbook Costs and Classroom Ethos: A Practical Strategy
queeracademic - January 18, 2011 at 9:05 am
I make my own course readers from book chapters and journal articles that get copied and bound by the campus copy center (they also manage copyright stuff). This means that every page is assigned during the semester and students don’t feel they paid a bunch of money for a text they were only required to read half of. For intro-level courses my readers are around $50 – less than half of most intro textbooks in my field and the majority of students actually LIKE most of the readings because they aren’t reading a dry textbook.
drnels - January 18, 2011 at 11:11 am
Jason, I agree with you fully. I also try to get the entire syllabus and course blog up a running so students can check it out and even see when we are using which books and that we are really reading the entire $80 book. I also try to keep prices for my courses under $100, which I am able to do. One of my classes this semester has a textbook in the $80 range, and that’s it. The other has five books, but the total cost is still under $100.
I have to say, I just taught a winter class. There were three options students could take for the same gen ed requirement. For the two week class, my texts were under $40. The other two classes had textbooks that cost well over $100. I wonder how much of those books was really used in that short of time.
swerner - January 18, 2011 at 11:17 am
My current courses don’t quite fit into other models: I teach at an independent research library, so I don’t use a campus bookstore for book orders, and most of our readings are either rare materials or online reserves. But, back when I used to teach literature classes, I often selected texts based on a combination of what was available, what the costs were, and how reliable of an edition it was.
I certainly agree with your point about wanting to have students use the same edition of a work so that the page numbers and the text itself are the same. But I also want to make a plug for the experience of having a variety of editions used in class. From a practical perspective, it can be easier with many of the early modern texts I teach which, whether plays or poems, are usually referred to in terms of line numbers rather than page numbers. In most instances, while the line numbers of a speech in a Shakespeare play might vary, the act and scene numbers are fairly consistent and it’s not difficult to find the place in your own version. And there can be real payoffs when students are using different texts–we’ve had great classroom discussions started by one student noting that Desdemona gave Othello a world of kisses, while another student’s text says she gave him a world of sighs.
All of that is to say that while it might not be practical in all courses, letting students choose their own books has payoffs in unexpected ways, if your class allows for that kind of wrestling with the text–benefits that are practical both in terms of costs and in terms of students understanding how to read critically.
ychumanities - January 18, 2011 at 11:23 am
According to the contract negotiated between my college and the bookstore (run by an outside contractor), I am NOT ALLOWED to make any mention of the fact that textbooks can be purchased or rented anywhere other than the bookstore. This was also the case at my last college, where I was called on the carpet for putting alternative purchase information in my syllabus. The professors all think it is hilarious that we are supposed to pretend the Internet doesn’t exist, and most violate that rule cheerfully, but some in the administration take it seriously, pointing out that the college gets a cut of bookstore sales.
jason_b_jones - January 18, 2011 at 11:35 am
@swerner I take your point about multiple editions, and in texts that have line #s, scene markers, or paragraph numbering schemes, I’m a lot more flexible. It’s only the Victorian novels (in my teaching) that raise this.
@ychumanities I’ve heard this before, and am totally baffled. If it’s a state university, then the booklist is probably a public record. And now, per the new regulations, all of that information *has* to be provided.
I understand the administration’s point about revenue, but the combination of burying one’s head in the sand and restricting speech is . . . more than usually hopeless.
cubbies1 - January 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Instructors-this is getting so old. Your campus store is required to order what you have submitted for your class. If your campus store is institutional, all money goes back to the institution. Why do you bite the hand that feeds you?? Most stores are more than willing to get materials at the cheapest cost possible. It is simply not true that online stores are ALWAYS cheaper. We have a price comparison tool on our store website so that students can see for themselves who has the best price. Most of the time we are either the same price or just slightly above. We are paid to have the right books on the shelf. If you’d only give us the order in a timely manner, we would have the best prices. You think that what you say and do has no consequences to anyone but yourselves. You change your minds about your order and expect the campus bookstore to eat the cost of sending books back. You tell us what books to order, then tell your class not to buy from us. We’re here to serve you. Why can’t you be fair partners with us in education? We are professionals at what we do. We’re not just book orderers. Publisher reps are only trying to sell you something. We actually want to work WITH you. Of COURSE the college gets a cut of bookstore sales! How else do you think things are funded on campus when appropriated money is being cut? We have a role to play and we’re doing what is being asked of us.
crankycat - January 18, 2011 at 4:41 pm
I choose texts with a shelf-life longer than the course. That isn’t as snarky as it sounds – I teach introductory courses in graduate life sciences. The texts are huge and expensive, but they also serve as long-lived reference books for the students who buy them. A student may spend over $100 on a book – but the text will serve them for the course, as a reference tool for more advanced courses, and as a study aid for their qualifying exams and doctoral defense. That’s not such a bad deal.
jason_b_jones - January 18, 2011 at 6:35 pm
@cubbies1 I don’t mind the existence of the stores on campus, and recognize they provide a service. For the kinds of books *I* assign, it’s good that there’s an alternative.
No part of my post included the argument, “Boy, the campus bookstore is an evil institution.” (And you can check with my dept. administrative ass’t: I get my book orders in by/before the deadline, always. And I work with the bookstore to make sure the editions are right.)
@crankycat I always hope that that’s true! I’ve often been surprised–gobsmacked, even–at what students will sell back, given enough financial pressure.
jbfjbf - January 18, 2011 at 10:58 pm
The exact same textbook in a foreign country costs one fourth of what it cost in the U.S. Are American students subsidizing students in foreign countries?
drkull - January 19, 2011 at 12:48 am
Go cubbies1! Sweet rebuttal. Wish all bookstores held your customer-service / market competitive values.
Just one thing: when I suspect that there is some other commercial goal being tended than just getting the text to the student in the most efficient and effective way possible, my nausea kicks in. And I’m a business professor. Call me old-fashioned, but the price on the bookcover says to me, “dude, this is the best value we could swing between the publisher and the distributor to get this text to you at a level of quality we felt reasonable for its thunkness.” If I want to pay to help support something else on campus, be transparent about it. How about: “By purchasing the online version of this text we will donate one-half of the production/distribution cost difference to save some oxygen-producing flora on this campus… some of our readers are spending an inordinate amount of time arguing over a small expense in terms of total tuition. The other half goes to treat victims of hypoxia.”
reinking - January 19, 2011 at 8:48 am
The Higher Education Opportunity Act does not require that information about textbooks be made available when students register for courses. Although that approach is encouraged, the law allows institutions to decide where they wish to make the information available. Thus, at Clemson, my university, faculty have been informed that by law they (i.e., the announcement is worded to suggest that the law is directed at faculty, not the institution) must inform the campus bookstore, which is run by Borders, about their required texts. Although the information required by law is available at the bookstore, many students are more likely to purchase their texts at the bookstore when that is the only place to find the information. The bookstore must charge enough to be profitable to Borders and presumably for the university to pay for the building, etc. if not generate a profit for other activities. At any rate, it is possible for universities to protect their self-interest in profiting from textbook sales and stay within the letter, if not the spirit, of the law. I encourage those who post on this list to “out” their institution when it has acted to subvert the intent of the law by protecting its self interest, especially in league with a commercial firm, at the expense of students.
cubbies1 - January 19, 2011 at 8:54 am
It’s not always easy to explain EXACTLY where the money from the bookstore goes because sometimes it is scholarships, sometimes it’s building renovations and sometimes it’s other salaries on campus. We pay our own expenses and receive no money from the state to operate. That being said, selling textbooks in the most affordable way is our goal. We sell new, used, digital, custom, print-on-demand-anything we can so that students have choices. I think it’s interesting that faculty, who represent education, actually place such low value on the books they choose for class. They order books that they don’t use in class. Students sometimes never take the shrink-wrap off. There should be value for what students have to purchase and a reason for them to spend their money on texts or don’t order them. I don’t want to sell anything that isn’t needed. I could get started on the practice of taking free examination copies and selling them but I won’t. There are many things that drive up textbook costs. There is room enough for everyone to take their part.
velvis - January 19, 2011 at 9:15 am
I just started my class yesterday…as a student my books were about $100.
As an instructor I give two options…Get the new edition a book is $100 but we pull much of the course information out of it.
OR better yet get 1 or 2 editions ago the information is almost exactly the same (the stats are all that change like income levels for 2009 vs 2005 I give them those)and it’s $2.
Yeah that’s right $2. It’s been purchased and repurchased and my students who are strapped for cash, and their parents who are even more strapped can breathe a little easier.
I place value not on the books…but on my students.
My campus book store charges $65 for sweat shirts that can be picked up at the Walmart, gas stations, and even Cracker Barrels for under $25, $15 if you go to wally world.
Don’t even get me started on things like logo emblazoned office supplies.
I believe that there are cheaper ways for the campus shops to sell texts but I’m not sure I believe that they would ever be done as their bottom line is their bottom line and mine is whether or not my students understand.
george_h_williams - January 19, 2011 at 9:16 am
To follow up on the comment from @reinking:
The full text of the Higher Education Opportunity Act is online, and the relevant parts about “Textbook Information” is Section 112.
- Subsection (c) explains what’s required of publishers
- Subsections (d) and (e) explain what’s required of “each institution of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance”
–What’s interesting to me is that subsection (d.1.B) reads, in part, “if the institution determines that the disclosure of the information described in this subsection is not practicable for a college textbook or supplemental material, then the institution shall so indicate by placing the designation ‘To Be Determined’ in lieu of the information required under this subsection.” That’s a mighty big loophole.
–Subsection (e) requires the institution to make available to the bookstore “as soon as is practicable” information about required textbooks. That’s also a big loophole. If it’s not practicable for a faculty member to decide on the textbooks for a course by the deadline set by the bookstore, it appears that they’re not violating the letter of the law.
-Subsection (f) “encourage[s]” institutions to inform students of various cost-saving ways of getting their books, though the subsection specifies ways of saving money for the institution, and does not mention ways of saving money for the students
In short, I would interpret this language to mean that faculty are not, in fact, required to make textbook information available to students or to the bookstore by any particular date. The loopholes built into the language let them off that particular hook.
I am not arguing that faculty should wait until the very last minute to decide upon their textbooks; nor am I arguing that they should (or shouldn’t) encourage their students to buy books from more affordable online vendors, if they can find them. Rather, I’m just providing my own reading of what the law being cited actually does (and does not) require.
And finally, putting on my ProfHacker editor’s hat, I ask that we avoid turning the comments section into a finger-pointing game between bookstores and faculty. Instead, please respond to Jason’s prompt at the end of his post: “What strategies do you use to mitigate textbook costs? Do you contact your students before the semester starts? Let us know in comments!”
Thanks!
softshellcrab - January 19, 2011 at 10:49 am
@ ychumanitie
Same at my school. We have been told we are not allowed to suggest to students to buy books at other than the bookstore.
lizgibbons - January 19, 2011 at 9:56 pm
I view textbooks like all other materials needed for class–students need to have writing materials, dancewear, and internet access for my classes. It is not important to me where they get their ballet slippers, books, computers, internet, just that they have what they need. Students aren’t dummies, and word gets out quickly about chegg.com and other sites. That sound you hear just may be the tolling of the bell for the university bookstore as such. Personally I purchase lots of books, but haven’t been in a physical brick&mortar bookstore in years, nor have I purchased dancewear anywhere but online. Welcome to free enterprise, welcome to the 21st century.
bookdemon - January 26, 2011 at 11:23 am
I have been part of many of these conversations and was the reason I opened up my own store a few years ago. I was a publishing representative for over a decade and met with professors on a daily basis.
It is very apparent that professors and bookstores do not communicate effectively.
It seems that so many faculty want to go around the bookstores for no reason. Do you really think renting books”Chegg” are cheaper for your students? Do the math, if you continue to use that edition your students will pay around 30% more for the book then buying a used copy and selling it back anywhere.
If the faculty was really concerned about the costs for students they would do the following:
1. Make adoptions early – that way bookstores can pay your students more at buyback and have more used copies next semester that are cheaper.
2. Don’t require custom or access code books. While the publishing reps will tell you it is free with a new book. It will actually cost the student around double than the used book. Here is why- The new book may be $200 but a used copy would cost $50 the bookstore can only purchase the book at wholesale because they have to have the new package so the students lose about $50 on the buyback so they actually pay $100 for that access code. Ask yourself if that code is really worth $100.
Custom books can only be sold to the students at your school so their buyback value is limited.
3. Use the materials adopted for the class. The bookstore buys books back from students based on your adoptions. If you get a new assignment before the semester starts and change books then the bookstore takes a large hit and has to absorb that loss just like theft. Since most professors don’t care about the “greedy” bookstore they aren’t worried if the bookstore bought back 10 copies of the other stat book for $50 that now have to be sold for $15 costing the bookstore $350 for that one adoption.
Also, dont adopt a book and then tell the students they don’t need it. IF they don’t need the book tell the bookstores it is recommended. They won’t order as many and won’t have top pay to ship them to the store and then back to the publisher.
4. Talk to your bookstore! I am a private store at my alma mater. I care about having the right materials for your class. It does me no good not to have them. It only takes a minute to communicate.
I have never understood the animosity of faculty towards the bookstore. You can see it in many of the comments above. Have you looked into what custom apparel costs? Do you think about the local economy when you compare the products to wal-mart? They are not the same. How easy it is for many of you to call for the “bell to toll” on the bookstore when many are local business that work and support your local community.
If we do these things together you will find that the prices can be much cheaper and more used books will be available to your students. I will put the prices at my store up against anything on the internet in the current edition. As a private store owner, I love my school. I came back to town to be a part of my University and I opened a business that gives back.
I think you will find that if you work with the bookstore you will find that you will only help your students.