Textbooks are very expensive and it can be difficult for students to be able to afford them. New federal law is going into effect this month allowing students to have information about textbooks at the time of registration to help them make informed choices. Is that enough?

There is a Pennsylvania bill, which if made into law, would require professors working at community colleges and state schools to select the least expensive, educationally sound textbooks. Is that a good idea? What are your thoughts?

That is pretty limiting for the instructor. I'd rather pay more and have a really good textbook that is good for the class.

Thank you Jilly. The PA bill does seem very limiting, not only in quality but in content. Information often differs somewhat from textbook to textbook. To me it seems that worrisome that we would all have the same information, written from the same point of view. And if anyone had an agenda, they could disseminate their propaganda simply by having the lowest priced texts. Other opinions would be shut out.

What do the rest of you think? How important is the cost of textbooks? Are these laws a good idea? Are their other solutions?

I think control is the real issue. Yes, cost is important to me as a long-distance student, but .... I'm there to learn, not follow a robotic drill. Limiting instructors in text book choices will limit their ability to teach the most effective way possible. Education is the key, not economics.

Great, thanks Sara. That is a good point about limiting their ability to teach.

What does everyone else think? Do you agree or disagree? Are textbooks too expensive? If so, are there other solutions? Will the new federal law solve the problem?

I *definitely* think students should know up front what textbooks they're going to be required to have for a course. At Northeastern the courses I've registered for have always had a full syllabus available to students as they look through the course list. You know up front that information as well as what the testing schedule is, how many papers you write, etc. I thought this was fairly standard but apparently it's not!

I am with Jill that I think professors should choose the best material they can. I am taking these courses to learn. I want to learn as much as I can with each course. You're already making a substantial investment of money to take a college course. I would rather have that investment be "really really worth it" vs saving a few pennies and having what is still a huge investment be "learning utter nonsense".

I.e. to me it's like having this choice. You can pay $30 and have the ultimate dinner of a lifetime that you talk about for years and years and remember fondly, or you can pay $25 and have food so awful that you can barely eat it. Sure you saved $5 - but you already were paying a lot of money for your meal and it makes more sense at that point for it to be worth it.

Thank you. That is great that you had all that information during where you went to school. I've never had that any place where I went to school (nor any colleges I worked for). I think the new federal law going into effect this month will really help students be able to comparison shop and find the best prices (and still have their books in time for class). The PA bill seems to be going to far. Does anyone disagree?

Have any of you tried renting textbooks? If so, what did you think of it? How much did you have to pay? Was it done through the college or an outside company?

I haven't tried to rent textbooks, but I do look for good used ones, and so far we've had lots of luck finding them at a fairly reasonable price. My roommate and I are both attending colleges, and between us we save $500 - $1000 a year, if not more.

Wow, Sara that's a lot of savings. Do you find the used ones online or in the bookstore?

We found our books usually through Amazon.com the used ones. We also look at a site (I'll have to look on another computer, it's not saved on this one) that pulls from several sites and does price comparisons.

Thanks. That would be a great resource for other students.

Ah! Found the name of it! The site is FetchBook

Thanks. That's helpful.

Thanks. That would be a great resource for other students.

My daughter just paid $194 for a book. She could have bought the used one for $139, but it would have required her to purchase the disc for $65. Yikes!!!

Yes, college texts are often very expensive! Some subjects tend to have higher priced books than others. What type of course was that book for?

Math!!!
Her business course text books are all supposed to be online.
I just don't quite remember the books being so expensive. But I guess back in the 80's we were still playing close to $100.00

Yes, textbook prices have skyrocketed.

Generally speaking math, science, and engineering seem to be some of the most expensive text out there. Business texts can be fairly expensive too so it is wonderful that they are online.


In addition to used books, you can check other ways to save money:

1. Check out renting textbooks.

2. Earlier editions can often be found on Amazon or other sites for a very low price. Sometimes the differences in the editions are minor enough that it doesn't matter. Some professors can tell you if the earlier edition will be OK.

3. Sharing books. When I was in school a friend and I would buy one copy of a text we both needed, split the cost, and share the books. School libraries often carry a copy of at least some of the texts used by professors.

4. Borrowing books. And also, occasionally professors will lend an extra copy they have of textbook to students who can't afford the book.


If anyone else thinks of any ideas I've missed, please add to this thread. Thanks.

I buy the books used from Amazon - and then I sell them again on Amazon when I'm done. So the actual cost isn't too bad.

I was just talking with my nephew and he was saying he was going to download his illegally for free from the web. That concerned me a lot. I realize books cost a lot - but I don't think stealing them is the answer.

I agree. Illegal downloads are never the answer!

Wow, that is double what i use to pay for a book. i thought 100 was a lot.

I love textbooks though so am usually copacetic about it.

If you go to school on campus, check to see if the library keeps copies of text books in the reserve section. Different schools have different policies about that ranging from multiple copies of each book in the reserve section to only books that are specifically put on reserve by the professor or requested by students (usually months in advance.)

Julie

Yes Julie, that is a good idea. I've done that myself. Some students who are not on campus may also be able to check out library books. I took some online classes at East Carolina University and their library would send library books to online students via FedEx. They covered the cost of shipping both ways. I don't know how many other colleges do this, but it is worth checking out.

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I'm glad you found it helpful.

FYI- The upcoming article on the Colleges site will be on accessing textbooks on a budget.

Susan, that's a great idea!

Thanks. It should be posted Thursday. I hope people find it helpful.

The new article Textbooks on a Budget has been posted.

I just read that the University of of Kansas is the first college to join a Hewlett-Packard project testing the use of print-on-demand textbooks. The college saves money by not purchasing books that they never sell. Students also save money because these books are cheaper than pre-printed texts. They only take about 10 minutes to print.

It seems like a pretty good idea to me. What do you think?

Wow, that is just such a good sensible idea - you have to be careful with used textbooks in case the information you're learning is already out of date!

They could still be out of date if they were printed...

I would be interested to know costs to student of printing a textbook - is it a fixed fee or does it depend on word numbers, number of pages etc? What is someone just wants a chapter?

One of my young friends buys textbooks that are intended for less developed countries. They have the same content without the fancy pictures.

My husband buys textbooks on Amazon.

Where does your friend find his texts that are printed for other countries?

I think it depends on the book. But the article did say that it would be cheaper for students. They mentioned a particular book that would be $37, but the article didn't say how much the same book would be otherwise.

One nice thing that the University of Kansas is doing is posting a price comparison online. That way students could decide if the convenience of buying at the bookstore would be worth it.

(Another nice things is it said they could also print teacher-created course packs, that would have to be purchased on campus anyway.)

What I like about it is that it allows students who want to purchase books elsewhere to do so, but gives students who wants to go to the bookstore a cost efficient (for the store and the student) means of doing so.