Posted on 08/23/2010 9:01:57 AM PDT by SandRat
College is back in session, and students have a bigger voice than ever on the topic of costly textbooks.
University of Arizona students start classes today. Pima Community College students will go back to class on Wednesday.
Here are three new trends that students will see in the changing world of college textbooks.
1. Book prices are listed in class schedules - by law
Federal law now requires publishers to disclose textbook prices to professors and requires them to sell compact discs and other extras separately instead of as a bundle.
It also requires colleges to list the prices of required books on the schedules students use to choose classes. Students will notice these prices on the UA and PCC class-schedule websites for the first time this semester.
The government got involved with textbooks because it invests billions in federal student-loan programs, said Sen. Richard Durbin D-Ill., a textbook-affordability advocate. Those loans help students pay for books in addition to tuition and fees.
A more economical approach to textbooks means less cost to taxpayers and less student debt, Durbin said during a news conference this summer about the textbook provisions taking effect in this school year.
2. Students are campaigning for textbook cost awareness
Some members of the Arizona Students' Association asked their teachers to acknowledge that textbooks are a big expense for students and to pledge to use the same book for several years, making it more likely that the title will be available used or for rent.
Eduardo Atjian, a senior public-administration student and former student senator, said he got involved in the campaign because he was upset by the "misuse" of textbooks, such as requiring an entire book when only one chapter was used in class. Atjian estimates he spends $300 per semester on textbooks.
The faculty members whom Atjian talked to had mixed reactions, he said. Some were supportive; others said they didn't have time for this.
The students collected about 40 pledges from UA faculty members. The UA Faculty Senate also endorsed the pledge last fall.
3. Professors are beginning to try online textbooks or no textbooks at all
PCC chemistry professor David Katz has assigned the same edition of a textbook for several years in one of his classes, so all of his students are buying used books, which are less expensive.
He'll stick with it as long as enough used books are in stock, because new editions of that textbook have been issued with mostly cosmetic changes, he said during an interview in May.
Katz keeps a website for his classes at chymist.com It's loaded with tutorials, slides from lectures, reading assignments, lab experiments, links and extra information that's free to his students and anyone else who is interested.
He also teaches two courses without a textbook. Instead, he sends students to websites, does a lot of hands-on activities in class and asks students to print out some lab worksheets.
"I decided to teach without a textbook because I believe in hands-on learning. I'm just not equipped - yet - to teach the regular chemistry course without a textbook," Katz said. "I'm getting to the point where I'm approaching a textbook online.
"I'm not trying to put any publishers out of business," he said. "I'm just trying to supply information to my students inexpensively. I think it's cool.
"We're all trying to keep prices down for the students," Katz added. "It's kind of scary when the textbooks, especially here at the community college, cost you more than the course you're taking."
Contact reporter Becky Pallack at bpallack@azstarnet.com or 807-8012.
Yes, that is how it works at UW Stevens Point, and I believe Whitewater is that way too. I was not aware that LaCrosse did that as well.
My situation is more a case of we have a product that customers want, they just don’t want to pay the exorbitant price that the bean counters - who only look at development and recurring maintenance costs - want to charge. If we factored in the savings from using the software in-house, we are already well into the profit zone.
I wasn’t very clear, Moonman....the crooks I refer to are the filthy politicians who have nothing better to do than to muck up our lives with foolish and short-sighted legislation such as the ADA.
I honestly don’t know which is worse: the notion that they really are too stupid to see the unintended consequences of their actions (the ADA and Soc.Sec. are two prime examples), or if they deliberately do these things to see how much we’ll take from them.
Perhaps I wouldn’t brand ALL of them crooks if once — JUST ONCE -— in my life I had been represented in Congress by someone for whom I’ve actually voted. As it is, that has never been the case. I fervently hope that will change in November, and then we’ll see.
Regards,
“The problem is with those clients who aren’t willing to pay the price for top-quality work and are willing to pay far less for a lesser product”
I hear you. I get that too. I had a boss say it was expensive to pay me 20 bucks an hour to edit his documents, and make sure they were ready for publication.
I asked if he was concerned about the product, or the productivity, and he said no, just that he wanted me to do it for about 10 dollars.
People don’t understand what the work entails. Yes, I’m good and quick, but I’m not cheap. You want results, come to me and it will get done when you want it how you want it. And it *will* get published.
I guess it bothers me because even though I’d been working for this guy for years, he seemed to assumed it was easy to do. :)
Sounds like a marketing issue.
I could do up some press releases for you that you could show clients that would help you make the sale.
“The length of education alone that these students are put through, is utterly ridiculous.”
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Apparently it is, in too many cases, the length of NON-education. If all eighteen year old Americans had what used to be a high school education we could shut down most of the universities. Most four year graduates now don’t even have an honest high school education.
UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee don’t have rentals except for the most basic of classes. Anyway, many professors will get custom editions of books for their classes in the lower levels. At higher levels, many of the books (especially in the humanities and social sciences) can be had much cheaper from Amazon.com or Borders.
I agree, but I have fought this battle for going on ten years now. They are immune to the logic and now just think I’m a crank who doesn’t want to play along and “follow the processes”.
Well the offer stands. I can prep a sampler for you if you want. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done this.
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