Study:
Textbook publishers use unfair tactics
University
Bookstore textbook prices are affected by
manufacturers’ gimmicks.
By
Jamie Rowe
On-line Forty-Niner
In
a study released in January, the California
Student Public Interest Research Group and
the Oregon Student Public Interest Research
Group found students are paying up to $900
a year on textbooks.
The
groups are both student run and directed
organizations set up as vehicles for students
to investigate issues that concern them,
said Dave Rosenfeld, the organizing director
for the California group. The organizations
hire professional staff to help students
with their social change projects.
General
education costs, including textbooks, are
going up, Rosenfeld said. The cause of the
problem was unknown, so the organizations
started doing research.
The
groups surveyed faculty at 12 universities
across the country. Their results were surprising.
Publishers use gimmicks, like bundle materials
such as CDs, to inflate the cost of textbooks.
"We
found that 64 percent of the faculty didn't
even use the bundle materials," Rosenfeld
said.
Publishers
also produce new editions, claiming they
need to update the material. This causes
the old editions to become obsolete overnight.
According to the organizations'
Web
sites, producing new editions prevents students
from buying used cheaper textbooks as well
as being unable to sell back their books.
Rosenfeld
said publishers also claim that faculty
demand new editions. However, he said 76
percent of faculty thought new editions
were justified only half the time or less.
In response to these findings the organizations
decided to work toward getting one publisher
to adopt their recommendations.
"Thomson
Learning, Inc. is one of the biggest publishers,"
Rosenfeld said. "We focused on the
calculus book [Calculus: Early Transcendentals]
because it is used around the country."
There
are two problems with this particular book.
The latest edition was published in 1999,
but the new edition published in 2003 has
very little new material in comparison.
"They
changed the order of some chapters, added
new graphics and different problem sets,"
Rosenfeld said. "But the faculty could
just supplement this."
Additionally,
Thomson Learning, Inc. charges American
students $122 for the book, but charges
students in the United Kingdom, Africa and
the Middle East $65 U.S. dollars and students
in Canada $95 U.S. dollars .
A
coalition of student leaders sent Thomson
Learning, Inc. a letter asking them to pledge
to:
∑
Not publish without substantial new changes
∑
Make pricing fair to American students
∑
Fully disclose to faculty all their products
and their prices
∑
Produce an online version and pass the savings
to the students
According
to Rosenfeld, the response was very disappointing.
The correspondence between the organizations
and the company can be viewed on their Web
site.
Just
as the company sent a letter stating they
did not want to discuss the issue further,
the faculty from 125 of the largest and
most prestigious campuses across the nation
signed a petition asking for the same pledges.
Thomson Learning, Inc. sent a letter back
defending its practices. "They need
to admit they have problems and get help
to change," Rosenfeld said.
Eight
teachers from Cal State Long Beach signed
the petition. Jim Stein, a professor of
mathematics, said prices have been too high
for the past 20 years.
For
students interested in getting involved,
Rosenfeld suggests joining faculty and administrators.
He suggested circulating letters among the
department or writing a letter for the student
Senate to adopt.
"The
more we ask them to weigh in, the more the
company will feel the heat and make changes,"
he said.
On
an individual level, he suggested buying
books overseas through Web sites like Amazon
UK or organize book swaps through sites
like campusbookswap.com.
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