Reducing the Cost of Textbooks

By Mark Gonzaga

For a full load, a student can expect to spend $700 - $800 in textbooks. Why are textbooks so costly and what can we do about it?

Why are textbooks so costly?

And

What can we do about it?

Unfortunately, the incumbents on the community college board of trustees are part-time administrators who have not addressed this problem.

Why are textbooks so costly?

According to the National Association of College Stores which collected information from college and university bookstores and textbook publishers across the country, 67% of the cost of a new textbook goes to the publisher, 9% to the author, 2.5% to the freight company, 9% to the college, and 12.5% to the bookstore for employee salaries and benefits, and overhead.

OK, now that we know who is rewarded by the price of the very costly textbooks, let's look at possible solutions to see what we can do about the high cost of textbooks. To do so, we must ask why the publisher receives 67% of the price of a textbook. If the textbook cost $50 for example, the publisher may get $33.50. Is this a fair price or can we do better? I say, we can do better. Publishing like all other aspects of American life, is subject to competition.

Why can't the colleges go to local publishing houses, or a cooperative made up of the Los Angeles Community Colleges, to produce our own textbooks? How much does it cost to produce a book? According to "Start Your Own Computer Business" published by Foner Books in December 2002, a 168 page 6" x 9" paperback could be printed on an offset press for around $1.00 each in large quantity. So all things being equal, if we produced textbooks locally, the cost could be greatly reduced.

Printing of a 168 page textbook $1.00 Publisher $0.00 Author $4.50 Freight Company (community college employees) $1.25 Revenue given to college or university for academic programs, student activities, capital improvements, etc. $4.50 Bookstore Employee salaries and benefits $5.00 Earnings and other direct expenses including taxes, equipment, maintenance, repairs, etc. $1.25 Total: $17.50

So instead of spending $50 for a textbook, the student pays $17.50. A great improvement!

What are other possible solutions to get the price of textbooks down?

1. Buy the book online. Online outlets offer some reduction on prices of new books as well as listings for used texts which average about 25% less than new.
2. Use the same book as long as it is valid. One man at the forum held by the Culver City Democratic Club asked a very astute question. Why are algebra books changed so often; did math evolve?
3. Swap books with programs like College Book Swap.
4. Buy/sell used books at eBay.
5. What about the Future? Technology has reached a stage where material can be stored and accessed online. This means that textbooks can be published and updated on the Internet. For example, many medical texts including Grays Anatomy can be viewed or downloaded at Doctor's Reference Online. In the future, students could buy all or portions of books online as needed. Some materials would likely be free like Grays while others would include a charge with login to access.

As your trustee to the Los Angeles Community Colleges, I welcome all suggestions and ideas on keeping the price of textbooks affordable.

Please call me at 310 289-5678 and let me know your ideas.