<p>This isn't a new topic, but can someone tell me why textbooks are so expensive? I mean, really. I can't believe that the authors of textbooks are paid astronomically to justify the costs, and why would the production costs be so much higher than any other quality book with pictures that you buy at Barnes and Noble? Why is a big shiny science/math textbook $100-200 (or more?)</p>
<p>D just texted, complaining that the manual required for her physics lab class was $56. "It's like a bunch of worksheets and instructions Xeroxed and bound with that cheap plastic spiral." $56??? really?</p>
<p>We had the same shocker. We decided that it is because a lot of them are used by pre-meds and anything that somehow related to medicine is expensive. I know it is lame and funny explanation, nothing else came to mind. D is pre-med and we are trying to psycologically and financially prepare ourselves to pay for MCAT prep class - over $1800.</p>
<p>I don't know the answer but I agree that it is ridiculous.</p>
<p>I did resort to Amazon to buy a text book for my son who is at a CC. His book needed for Travel and Geography was $165.00 at the college bookstore or new from B & N. I found a nearly new one on Amazon from a private seller for $40.00. </p>
<p>Hopefully there are some more that can be purchased that way as I was unwilling to pay for a 1 semester book that cost more than his new business suit required for the class :)</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom,
I hope someone knowledgeable weighs in on this subject. We have to pay for the high school textbooks. The two books for an honors precalc class were over $260! It really seems absurd.</p>
<p>I am also on the complaining side. We have to pay for my D's high school books plus she is taking two university classes. The physics book was $221 at the college bookstore! I found it on Barnes & Noble for $150 which is still a lot. We found a slightly older edition for $8 at a used bookstore but the homework problems were different so I ended up paying for the latest edition. I think that is one problem in that they put out new editions all the time. Does Physics I really change that much from year to year?</p>
<p>New editions mean more first time purchases, which are the ONLY purchases that benefit the textbook companies (and the authors). Every subsequent sale of a textbook in used condition is profit to the bookstore that sells it, if that, and the textbook companies can't afford to eat that cost without putting it into consideration when setting the purchase price.</p>
<p>Consider this: how many college textbooks do you hold on to, as you would with, say, your fiction novels? How many do you resell or give away? </p>
<p>Note also that sometimes the complimentary instructor copies (which are often identical to the student copy, it's just simply sent to instructors using the texts as an incentive) enter the used book market. Now a book has taken the place of a new book, but no money for it ever made it to the textbook company or author(s).</p>
<p>Blame it on the fact that textbook companies are (generally) huge, profit-driven corporations, and student bookstores are likewise owned.</p>
<p>Also influencing prices is low print runs on academic books versus mass-market books (low copies printed on huge machines = increased cost of production).</p>
<p>Colleges Receive Royalties
For School-Specific Editions;
Barrier to Secondhand Sales</p>
<p>Check out this Wall Street Journal article on the latest rip off (or shall we call it a hidden revenue center for colleges) ... The first example given for the U of Alabama is especially egregious.</p>
<p>A few exceprts from the article:</p>
<p>In 2005, a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office criticized several textbook industry practices -- including frequent new editions and the "bundling" of books with extras like CDs and workbooks -- that discourage the purchase of used books and inflate prices for students.</p>
<p>The agency found that college students spend an average of about $900 a year on textbooks. That's the equivalent of 8% of tuition and fees at the average private four-year college, 26% at a state university and 72% at a community college.</p>
<p>The book-royalty arrangements resemble a practice exposed during last year's student-loan scandal, when some universities steered students to particular lending firms and received a secret cut of the loans. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called those payments "kickbacks" and forced universities, many of which said they used the money to fund scholarships, to halt the practice. Mr. Cuomo recently launched a broad conflict-of-interest investigation of the relationship between colleges and vendors, including book publishers.</p>
<p>This is one big Ka-Ching on the pocketbook.</p>
<p>Instructors IMO should be aware of cost of textbooks.
They have the option to not require books that may have been modified only slightly, but enough to be sold as " new" rather than used. ( of course if they have just published a text- they may require the newest edition ;) )</p>
<p>While my daughter as a science major, had several textbooks that were well over $100 ea, we also were able to find them used/remaindered for a fraction of the price.
I also felt that her school bookstore was very fair on prices - & for her courses like Hum110, that had roughly 30 required books for the year, other editions were acceptable. ( as opposed to my own college bookstore, who had stickers for used books that were higher than the new price)
( on making a physics text) Special Collections - Oregon State University</p>
<p>Every product is composed of fixed and variable costs. The fixed costs for textbooks are spread over fewer units than a popular hardback book like a John Grisham novel, so prices are higher. The largest component of the fixed costs, based on what I can tell, is the labor costs associated with authors/editors/reviewers and since many books are now on two year cycles, the prices just keep going up.
Instructors in some disciplines just can't keep requesting older editions as the publishers discontinue the support for those books (many instructor supplements are online now).</p>
<p>I just wish the professors were on the students' side: my Economics professor told us on the first day of class that we didn't need to buy that $200 textbook, because we could get it (and the online program we need for problem sets) for $70 online. Couldn't he have sent us an email during the summer so that those of us who came prepared wouldn't get screwed out of $130?</p>
<p>Zamzam, D learned this valuable lesson her first semester. She was so hyper that she HAD to have all her textbooks before she got to school. Ka-CHING.</p>
<p>The best situation is to find people who are taking similar classes.... One of her friends sold her the Calculus book she needed for Calc III.... The friend got much more money from D than she would have gotten selling it back to the bookstore, and D ended up spending far less than she could find it used in stores or online. Fortunately, this has been the case for a few more, AND she's finding that she can find required readings online or at the library, so she's been able to avoid getting "recommended" books, while still being able to reference them during her work. </p>
<p>I'm still trying to reconcile $56 for a bunch of xeroxed papers....</p>
<p>
[quote]
I just wish the professors were on the students' side: my Economics professor told us on the first day of class that we didn't need to buy that $200 textbook, because we could get it (and the online program we need for problem sets) for $70 online. Couldn't he have sent us an email during the summer so that those of us who came prepared wouldn't get screwed out of $130?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Chances are your professor did not have a class list, and thus could not have emailed you, until a day or two before the semester started. Lesson to learn: don't buy your books until you've attended the first class. Sometimes "required" books the bookstore lists are not considered "required" by the professor.</p>
<p>Text book publishing is a very lucrative business, and as more and more companies merge or are purchased by other companies, it will get worse. Having participated as a minor author in a textbook series, I know the astronomical sums of money that are spent. Textbooks are often written by committee with one author writing the outline/plan, one texts on this area, one texts on another, someone else writes activities, someone else does the workbook, another team does the computer program, and so on and so on. The titled authors receive only a relatively small percentage. </p>
<p>It is true that often new editions have only minor changes, but this requires new purchases. That's why best selling textbooks may be on their 8th or 9th edition. Faculty members are often unaware of the true costs, although that is changing as it become more of an issue for students. </p>
<p>College bookstores used to scalp students. The $200 textbook package was bought back as a used book for $40 and then resold as a used book for $175. Who was making the money there? Fortunately, on-line booksellers and used book services are making things cheaper for the student.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I worked in the textbook industry. The reason for the high cost is simple: all the costs have to be covered in the first year. That includes all the supplements each instructor HAS to have, but will never use; all the copies the Dean orders for part time profs, that have to be replaced each semester because no one will ask for them back; the 4 color transparancy sets that HAVE to be replaced, because someone dropped the box and it's too much hassle to put them back in order....well you get the idea. That said, no I don't think it's fair, and I do think profs should be told up front how much the book they are selecting will cost the students. Not one prof ever asked me that question...not one.</p>
<p>Why does DD have to buy a $150 Shakespeare anthology? Has anything changed since he wrote the works? Nope, DH has his from college (price $19 in the 70s) but after asking the prof DD learned she needed the new one as they will use the questions in it.....really? Really? You are a university prof teaching upper div English courses and you have to use the questions in the book? Costing 25 kids over $100 each? Really?</p>
<p>I'll never forget buying a finance textbook in fall 1986, right when the new tax act was passing- had to buy it brand new, but already we knew it was not going to be valid in Jan, so no one could sell it back; no sense keeping it, the laws had changed. Grrr-guess I hold a grudge when money is wasted</p>
<p>I'm with you, somemom. My daughter is a vocal performance major and is taking Italian diction so that she can sing opera. Her Italian workbook was $75. Are you telling me that the textbook company has to update information on how to pronounce Italian for operas? </p>
<p>My husband and I were just discussing this this morning; we could understand the reason for science or, say, tax law books that have new information because of changing technology in them to be expensive. But, Italian? I wonder if the Latin workbook is expensive, too? ;-)</p>
<p>Undecided is correct. The author/pubs only get money from the first sale. All subsequent sales profits go to bookstores and people reselling the books. Hence they charge to get their cost + profits on the first sale. It is an unfortunate situation. The bookstores on the otherhand buy them back for nothing and still charge a very high price for the used text. They also make money on the initial sale. But if you want to really get upset look at the issue related to the international market where the same text may be significantly cheaper. If you have time, and know stuff ahead of time buying a text from England or India can save you very big bucks. But you need a lead time for shipping.</p>