How to Save Money on Text Books: Better Shop Around
September 7, 2010 | Insider News, Media
With the cost of textbooks averaging $900 per college student each year, four years of college could actually equal the cost of five years. It’s big business. The textbook industry is valued at more than $3billion a year. However, beginning this school year, students have more options or at least, more information.
In 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) was passed with provisions specific to the cost of textbooks. Those provisions became effective this school year and apply to any school receiving federal funds. Several states have enacted similar laws. The trend is to require colleges to disclose certain information about textbooks, such as the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and to allow the sell of textbooks without accompanying CD/DVD supplements.
But does this really make a difference? The typical college student today has never experienced life without computers. Shopping around is and has been a breeze for more than a decade. Wal-Mart has been offering textbooks since 2001, and Amazon has offered textbooks since the mid 1990’s with virtually every title under the sun. Both websites have ISBN search capabilities, and the existence of ISBN numbers is not something to be concealed as it’s government mandated to reveal it. The ISBN is a unique identifier that is printed on the book. Students need only open to the page with the copyright information to find it. For about $20 a semester, students can even rent a textbook.
Where students may see an even greater benefit from the law is an increased reliance by professors on existing editions of books. In other words, students can count on used books. That’s because HEOA includes provisions targeted at publishers. Gone are the days of simply publishing a new edition over trivial edits or updates. The practice of churning editions was a nifty trick of the publishing industry to compete against used book sales. The cost difference between used and new textbooks can be significant. Now publishers must disclose the price, copyright dates of the last three editions, description of content changes, availability of the book in other formats, and prices of bundled and unbundled books.
So if students were so out of the loop that they weren’t shopping around for textbooks via ISBN’s already, now the information will be obvious. Professors who never before paid attention to the cost or edition of the books they assign can make more informed decisions. Nevertheless, it is doubtful prices will decrease any time in the near future. Despite the law’s good intentions, the bottom line remains the same: students are customers of coercion, and whatever the price, they will suck it up and pay it.
Our advice from The Law Insider? Shop Around! Need to sell your text books? Check out the ebay owned site Half.com.
