Congress to investigate the high costs of college textbooks

[gatorboy]

What took them so long??? :shrug:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060713/bs_bw/bs20060712265644

Nobody likes shelling out cash at the beginning of the semester. By the time you and your family have paid for a meal plan, housing, and tuition -- or filed loan applications -- purchasing hundreds of dollars' worth of textbooks is probably the last thing you want to do (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/8/06, "Graduating? Time to Look at Your Loans"). Though, on paper, learning is students' No. 1 priority, hefty course-material prices do not exactly encourage running to the campus bookstore.

The U.S. House of Representatives started taking action this summer, in the wake of a 2005 Government Accountability Office report that found that textbook prices almost tripled between 1986 and the end of 2004 -- rising by 186% -- while tuition and fees increased by 240%. So, over the next year, the House's Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance will study the rising costs and make recommendations to lawmakers and interested parties on ways to make books more affordable.

"It's an important issue because cost for some students -- especially at community colleges -- is a huge problem. For many low- or moderate-income students, there's inadequate financial aid," says Nicole Barry, deputy director of the committee.

[Rex]

1. Ahh...an election year issue.

How noble of them to care now. Get the college vote. They really don't care about education any other time.

[brooklynite]

2. If only the Government could negotiate volume discounts for them...

or, if we could buy them from Canada!

[bluerum]

3. Maybe they could even provide interest free student loans!

[Sgent]

4. So your saying

that textbooks are increasing at a 30% slower rate than education in general. Therefore, investigate the $400/semester for textbooks, and ignore the tuition that's gone from 4K to 9.6k...

[Yupster]

25. Does anyone have an explanation

as to why college costs have gone up at twice the rate of inflation for the last 20 years?

Also, back 25 years ago I had one professor who put together a few mimeographed essays he wrote and stapled them together and required us to buy them as a textbook.

I always thought that was about as corupt a thing as I've ever seen

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. Naw. They are only shaking down the textbook industry.

That industry has a liscense to steal and congress only wants a bigger chunk.

[ComerPerro]

6. its just a stunt

[porphyrian]

7. Yeah, don't bother lowering tuition...

...blame the only real source of most teachers' income.
:eyes:

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. College professors don't get paid?

:shrug:

[Bill McBlueState]

12. i don't get that.

Professors make more money off textbook sales than their university salary or their grants?

[Yupster]

26. The professor I know who writes

doesn't make squat for it since he sells so few books.

Where he makes money is getting federal government grants to take semesters off so he can properly research the books which no one will ever read.

[porphyrian]

14. To answer both of you:

Teachers are paid shit. With the exception of those who land the few good-paying gigs, publishing is the only way to make real money. You never wondered why so many textbooks have a new edition almost every semester?

[gatorboy]

15. But not all teachers write their own textbooks.

When I was in college, I don't remember a single professor doing it.

Even those that don't still make money off the books?

[porphyrian]

18. No, I don't think I said that.

My experiences may be skewed as I've always worked in and around research universities where publishing is nigh-mandatory. It would be correct to say, however, that nearly every textbook is a necessary source of some teacher's income.

[gatorboy]

19. How is that deal worked out?

I'm not questioning you. It's just that I've never heard of professors gaining income from textbooks that they do not personally write. I'm honestly curious to how this arrangement works.

[porphyrian]

20. You aren't understanding me yet.

I haven't claimed that teachers gain income from books they don't write. I come from an environment where all teachers write books. Lots of them.

[Orangepeel]

23. professors make no money from assigning books

professors do not make any money off of books they assign.

Very few professors, relatively, write textbooks (in research Universities, monographs and journal articles are considered more prestigious, although I'm sure that depends on the discipline). And, (in at least some public universities), it is considered a conflict of interest for one to make money by assigning a book that one wrote. Professors who do write textbooks do get royalties which may be substantial if the book is adopted by many schools.

[Bill McBlueState]

22. yes, publishing is nigh-mandatory

But faculty in most fields I'm aware of publish in peer-reviewed journals or narrowly focused monographs. Only a small percentage of faculty write profitable mass-market textbooks, which is what the Congressional investigation seems to be addressing. Those are overpriced, and I'd wager that the publishers see a lot more of the profit the author does.

[JHB]

21. That's your experience, but I've had different...

...Though only once was it naked pocket-padding. In another case, the book in question was a collegue's rather than the professor's, and it was probably the best book covering the course work.

[Selatius]

8. They should've gotten off their fucking asses in 1988 when they noted...

tuition and book prices were rising faster after two years than the median income in the US was rising.

[varkam]

9. A day late, $850.00 short.

Well I am pleased to know that the powers that be are taking an interest in why I just had to shell out $850.00 for textbooks this upcoming semester, but I also feel they could have asked that question quite some time ago.

[Selatius]

10. Yeah, like 20 years ago.

You're not alone. Last semester I shelled out 500+ for books. I don't hit the campus bookstore anymore if I can buy it on eBay for far cheaper.

[varkam]

17. It's something I've never understood.

It's not like I go to my local bookstore, pick up a good science book, and the price tag says $175.00. That's just never happened to me. I suppose they have to pay for all the copyrights and whatnot, but it still seems like a rip-off to me.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

24. Kick

[Ian David]

13. When I was in school, we had a professor who wrote his own textbook

Every year, he published a new edition of the book. And he wouldn't accept last year's version for the class. And he wouldn't allow the school book store to sell used copies of his textbook.

And did I mention that his class was required for every student?

In any case, I am sure that by going after the textbook companies, it will do two things:

1) It will make up for the tens of thousands of dollars in extra costs the Repukes have placed on our students for loans, tuition, etc.

2) It will give the Repukes more leverage to demand textbook companies take Evolution out of textbooks.

[leesa]

16. Anything to do with textbooks, you can bet Neil Bush is in on the scam.

Ther will be some serious cash to be made somewhere.

Let's see, we're on the verge of WWIII and economic collapse and multiple looming Consitutional Crises...they have nothing better to do?