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Volume CXXXIII, Number 16 |
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Increasing textbook prices empty students' pockets
BETH KOWITT
ORIENT STAFF
Bowdoin students are used to dishing out the dollars. With tuition rates among the highest in the nation, we're accustomed to cringing and writing big checks. But when it comes to buying books for classes, students are starting to wonder-how much is too much?
According to the National Association of College Stores (NACS), an organization to which Bowdoin belongs, students are spending $727 to $800 a year on books, up from $642 in 1996-1997. Christopher Boyd, the Course Materials and General Manager of the Bowdoin Bookstore, believes that if anything, Bowdoin students spend less than that amount.
Boyd said that one of the reasons that prices are so high is due to the multitude of stakeholders in the book buying and selling process. "Everyone needs a piece of the pie to stay in business," he said.
According to the NACS, the money is split between nine different areas: the author's income, the publisher's general and administrative costs, publisher's marketing costs, college store income, college store operations, freight expense, college store personnel, publisher's income, and publisher's paper, printing, and editorial costs.
While many point their fingers at college bookstores for high prices, it is actually the original source, the publisher, that pushes up the prices.
"It's the same all over the country. Prices are driven by what the publishers charge," said Boyd. "[They] go to new edition probably more than they have to."
With publishers keeping textbooks on the shelf for an average of three and a half years before putting out a new edition that has very few changes but still makes the old one obsolete, this seems to be an understatement.
New editions are frequently more expensive than their previous editions. Textbooks also now come "bundled," or wrapped, with extra materials that students and teachers rarely use, which is another excuse to increase prices.
"When the professor says one particular edition, there's only one publisher to go to," said Mary Lou Kennedy, Director of Dining and Bookstore Services. "All college bookstores are facing the same problem."
"Students have a hard time coming up with the money," said Harry Jones '06, "but it's hard to come up with a solution."
Sophia Lenz '04 said that some students are looking for cheaper alternatives such as borrowing books from friends who have already taken the class or buying books online.
Students are now spending a great deal of time at the beginning of the semester searching online at websites such as half.com and amazon.com in order to buy cheaper, used books.
Amazon.com was unavailable for comment.
"We support the academic mission; that's why we're here. We spend time getting books so kids don't have to," Boyd said. "There's a lot of customer service here that you just don't get by ordering online."
When students buy online, the college's non-profit bookstore ends up losing money because it works closely with the faculty in order to buy books in advance.
"We have to take the risk if students buy books elsewhere," said Boyd.
The bookstore says it is trying to limit prices by offering the "Buyback" program, course packets, e-reserve, purchasing paperbacks when possible, and buying used books.
According to Boyd, 27 percent of the books sold by the bookstore are used books, compared to a national average of 17 percent.
"We're aggressively trying to save money for you and Bowdoin," said Kennedy.
Some authors and publishers are experimenting with online textbooks and printing new information in a separate supplement instead of new edition as a solution.
In the meantime, Bowdoin students will have to decide whether to dole out the cash or the time.
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