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MINK: Make textbooks affordable

The University should strive to relieve this financial burden for students

When tallying up the college tuition bill, the tuition number tends to stand out the most and dominate what one thinks about the price of college. But while the president has lamented the rising tuition prices as a danger to the American education system, a small but significant portion of a student’s yearly budget has gone unnoticed — the price of textbooks. Almost every University student has experienced the shock of going to buy textbooks at the University bookstore and realizing the text needed for one three credit course costs upwards of $200. With prices for a single course that high, when multiplied by several courses and stretching over eight semesters of school textbooks can add a tremendous amount of money to an already substantial final bill for college.

The cost of textbooks is a problem across the country, not just here at the University. According to the Government Accountability Office, the cost of textbooks has increased by almost 82 percent over the past decade — a number three times that of inflation. In addition, the College Board estimates that students spend an average of $1,200 a year on textbooks. Here on Grounds, some students have resorted to simply not buying their required texts, a practice many of them know to be harmful but seems unavoidable. This problem is especially significant for students already toeing the fiscal line, students for whom coughing up another $1,000 for textbooks is more complicated than having their parents write another check. But by taking a few simple steps, administrators and faculty at the University can make attendance easier and cheaper for all the students on Grounds.

One relatively workable step would be to increase the number of required textbooks the University’s libraries carry. Though libraries such as Clark and Alderman already carry a good number of texts, they do not have anywhere near enough supply to keep up with the demand of all University students. Taking such a step would allow students to avoid paying for the texts while still receiving the knowledge that comes with them. Professors could also assist in this effort to lower textbook prices by adapting their teaching plans to be more accepting of used texts, such as by providing the information available in new editions during class. The additional information added to new editions of textbooks is often minimal at best and not worth the several hundred dollar price tag when previous editions with most of the same information are available for a fraction of the price.

Another great new resource that has become available on college campuses nationwide are open textbooks, which are textbooks created and edited by students and professors, usually available online for little to no cost. In fact, a recent study from the University of Wisconsin found that if every student at that University were assigned just one open textbook per semester, it would lead to over $6 million in savings. While it cannot be expected for all classes and professors to immediately switch their curricula to this new system, even a small amount of experimentation with open textbooks could go a long way toward finding ways to adapt and use the University’s unique educational system.

Though it may seem as though the University has a long way to go to enact the significant changes needed, some professors have already noted the financial difficulties of their students and acted accordingly. For example, Professor Hoitung Leung and Professor David Metcalf now use a cheaper online textbook in their introductory chemistry courses instead of a standard hard copy. Steps like this, while noteworthy, must be adopted on a University-wide level for students to feel the full financial benefit of these changes. The students deserve a unified response from the administrators and professors in response to the skyrocketing prices of textbooks, and adopting these strategies as guidelines for how textbooks are distributed to the student body could save individual students hundreds of dollars each year and help relieve pressure for students who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Alex Mink is a Viewpoint writer.

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