Why student textbooks are so expensive

Of all the costs included in a college education, the most galling for many students are those $100-plus price tags on so many of their textbooks.

The near unanimous opinion of students interviewed is that the books are "a huge rip-off, a scam," as Temple University junior Stella Levin puts it.

Textbooks and school supplies now cost undergraduates, on average, nearly $900 a year, and their price has gone up at more than twice the rate of inflation since 1986, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

Little wonder then that the annual textbook lament is now in full throat at Temple, St. Joseph's, West Chester and other local colleges and universities where classes started recently.

"It is a purchase nobody wants to make," said Frank Henninger, manager of the Villanova University bookstore, as he tried to explain why students so despise buying textbooks. "When students pay tuition, they think they're buying an education. Textbooks- they just don't see those the same way."

Over the years, many student activists have blamed publishers for the high prices. But publishers just as often point to professors, because they pick the books. Professors say that their choices are limited and that the retail markups are too high. And retailers fault both for being indifferent to student complaints.

Textbooks constitute just a fraction of the total cost of a four-year college education, which averages close to $50,000 at public schools and more than $110,000 at private ones, according to College Board estimates. Yet many students say it's hard for them to shake the feeling that they are somehow being taken, especially when they have to dip into their own wallets to pay for the books.

But their sense of outrage springs from a host of mistaken assumptions, according to the textbook publishing industry.

"Textbooks are not mass-market novels. They are expensive to produce, and the markets are very small. It's basic math. If it costs a lot to publish them and you don't sell many, you have to charge a lot for each one," said Bruce Hildebrand, a spokesman for the Association of American Publishers.

But students and consumer groups suspect there is more to the high prices than that. They allege that publishers drive up their profits by bundling their books with unnecessary supplements, such as study guides and CD-ROMs, to justify higher prices. Another complaint is that publishers release new editions of books too frequently, limiting the supply of used books available on campus and elsewhere.

"It seems like they have a new textbook every year, and it's just minor changes. But it still means you can't sell your old book or buy a used one," said Joe Parisi, a senior engineering student at Villanova.

This month's GAO report confirmed some of those accusations. Publishers told the GAO that new editions now tend to be released every three to four years instead of every four to five years. Consumer groups and some bookstore managers say the real figure is closer to every two years.

But the principal cause of higher textbook prices, according to the GAO report, is the "enhanced offerings" that publishing companies are now investing in. These include study guides, workbooks, Web site memberships, and software for students, but also teaching packages for professors _ course plans, lesson guides, class assessment software, and so on.

Students say they rarely, if ever, use the supplemental materials. But because the extras are typically bundled with the required textbook, they generally have no choice but to buy them anyway.

"You never open them," Levin said. "Nobody does."

Publishers do acknowledge that supplements are increasing prices. Still, they say, it's what their customers demand.

It's a defense that points to a major quirk of the textbook business. Students are the ones who buy the books, but professors are the industry's true customers. They're the ones who select what books will be used in class, and many demand top-notch texts with all the extras, even if that increases costs, Hildebrand said.

"Professors have all these options and they ask, 'What will work for my students? Is it going to be the $25 black-and-white edition or the full-color hardcover, recently updated with extra tools and study guides?' We're just meeting demand."

When choosing books, some professors do take cost into account. But others said there was usually little difference between the price of a high-quality book and a less satisfactory one.

"Generally speaking, I ignore the price," said David Dalton, a chemistry professor at Temple. "That doesn't mean I'm insensitive to it; it just means I don't have an alternative. It's like gas stations. The price is almost the same wherever you go."

Students willing to work at it can save some money. Online sellers now compete with campus stores, other sites help students trade their books with other students who need them, and in some limited cases the books are available in electronic form for substantial savings.

It's a model that publishers are exploring aggressively, Hildebrand said.

But even if e-books drive prices down, he doesn't expect the complaints to end. On the wall in his Washington office is a student demonstration poster protesting book prices.

It's from a rally at Columbia University - in 1928.