Why are college texts so expensive??
We’ve had two bookstores at our state college in the last few years,
and both have had outrageous prices for everything they carry. The
biggest insult is the texts needed for class themselves. How can
students be getting gouged for over $90 for a 200page book?? Some
students need 6,7 or more of these texts a semester for their classes.
After four years, I’m sure the bookstores are laughing at all the cash
they’ve raked in without having to worry about competition.
Or is there? IS there any mail order or direct purchasing mechanism
for buying college texts?
Do these books become marked up ten fold when they GET to the campus
bookstores, or do they start out with ridiculous prices from the
publishers??
Thanks for the info ..
In article <331e27a2.14952…@news.wsc.mass.edu>,
Mark G. Spencer <spen…@liz.wsc.mass.edu> wrote:
>Why are college texts so expensive??
>We’ve had two bookstores at our state college in the last few years,
>and both have had outrageous prices for everything they carry. The
>biggest insult is the texts needed for class themselves. How can
>students be getting gouged for over $90 for a 200page book?? Some
>students need 6,7 or more of these texts a semester for their classes.
>After four years, I’m sure the bookstores are laughing at all the cash
>they’ve raked in without having to worry about competition.
>Or is there? IS there any mail order or direct purchasing mechanism
>for buying college texts?
>Do these books become marked up ten fold when they GET to the campus
>bookstores, or do they start out with ridiculous prices from the
>publishers??
>Thanks for the info ..
The bookstore markup is not that great. Most of it is in the prices
charged by the publishers.
Scholarly societies typically will give up to 25% discount to their
members when ordering direct from them. A book as expensive as the
one you cite probably has a relatively small market.
–
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
hru…@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
In article <331e27a2.14952…@news.wsc.mass.edu>, spen…@liz.wsc.mass.edu (Mark G. Spencer) writes:
The
>biggest insult is the texts needed for class themselves. How can
>students be getting gouged for over $90 for a 200page book?? Some
>students need 6,7 or more of these texts a semester for their classes.
At Montana State University there is only one place to buy textbooks, and that
is the student/faculty owned bookstore. It is a non-profit organization run by
a board of (elected) directors that includes both faculty and students.
As a result, texts are sold typically at 15% off the publisher’s list price.
The discount varies depending on how well the bookstore is doing financially.
This discount, is, in effect, the shareholders’ dividend. No one is getting
rich off of the sale of these textbooks — locally. Nevertheless, these texts
can still be pricey — $7.50 off a $50 text doesn’t seem like much.
Please keep in mind that these texts often have a very limited audience,
especially at upper level and graduate level coursework. As university
faculty, I *am* concerned about what my students have to spend, and if a
publication isn’t going to be used day in and day out, I try to get a couple
copies to put on reserve reading at the library. I’ve even done this with
regular main texts when I get a free duplicate copy. Part of the publisher’s
cost is that the often flood faculty with complimentary copies in the remote
hope that they’ll adopt. These I often put outside my office door with a note
to students that they are free to take them. I prefer, however, that the
publishers send me literature with a postcard to send in if I would like to
look it over. That way, I only get books when I seriously am looking for a new
one. My other beef are books that come out with a new edition every other or
even every year. From *my* perspective, this means I have to revamp my notes,
syllabus, homework problem and reading lists, etc. to fit the new edition.
Rarely is a new edition needed; if any field changes that fast, the material
will be obsolete by the time a full-blown textbook is published. From the
*student’s* perspective, frequent new editions mean that they can’t find used
texts for sale, and when they go to text buy-back, there isn’t a market because
of a new edition being published. When I tried to reorder last year’s edition,
they told me it was no longer available.
Our bookstore runs on a pretty slim profit margin, but at my alma mater, there
was no university store — just four privately owned stores. I knew lots of
students who advertised used books for sale. Maybe you could start some sort
of co-op?
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
ii…@Msu.oscs.montana.edu wrote:
> My other beef are books that come out with a new edition every other or
> even every year. From *my* perspective, this means I have to revamp my notes,
> syllabus, homework problem and reading lists, etc. to fit the new edition.
> Rarely is a new edition needed; if any field changes that fast, the material
> will be obsolete by the time a full-blown textbook is published. From the
> *student’s* perspective, frequent new editions mean that they can’t find used
> texts for sale, and when they go to text buy-back, there isn’t a market because
> of a new edition being published. When I tried to reorder last year’s edition,
> they told me it was no longer available.
I’ve been told that once a new edition is published, the older editions
are then rounded up and burned!!! I found this out after having the
only blue covered book in class, everyone one else had a brown covered
book. The instructor had the out-dated book, the publisher didn’t send
nor inform me that a new edition was being published. Needless to say I
looking for a new book.
Stout
mst…@xnet.com
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
N Stout wrote:
> ii…@Msu.oscs.montana.edu wrote:
> > My other beef are books that come out with a new edition every other or
> > even every year. From *my* perspective, this means I have to revamp my notes,
> > syllabus, homework problem and reading lists, etc. to fit the new edition.
> > Rarely is a new edition needed; if any field changes that fast, the material
> > will be obsolete by the time a full-blown textbook is published. From the
> > *student’s* perspective, frequent new editions mean that they can’t find used
> > texts for sale, and when they go to text buy-back, there isn’t a market because
> > of a new edition being published. When I tried to reorder last year’s edition,
> > they told me it was no longer available.
> I’ve been told that once a new edition is published, the older editions
> are then rounded up and burned!!!
They are. I saw an article in the WSJ (or NY Times? Forget which) which
described a lawsuit between a big textbook publisher – might have been
Harcourt, Brace, but don’t quote me – and the firm they had contracted
to get rid of their books. For some reason, they had employed this other
company to store and destroy old textbooks, and the publishers were
trying to prove that some of the books had wound up on the used-book
market, and they were seeking damages for breach of contract.
When I was in school, we used the Harbrace College Handbook in a
writing class. It was in it’s 11th edition at that point. Our teacher
mentioned parenthetically that the writers were dead and had been for
years, but that the publishers kept changing editions. How did they do
it? Simple. The writers had produced something like 20 editions all at
once. New editions were just taken from the stash, so the 14th edition
was in no way a revision or improvement on the 13th.
Capitalism in refined form … it hacks me off but I can see the
motive.
–
* Eric Fowler
* Email responses to: sockeye [AT] rmii [DOT] com
* Bigger bombs for a brighter future! (USAF)
College textbooks are a scam, you are right. They put out a "new" edition
with a couple of new photos/graphs, some new problems, and that is all
that is usually new about "new" editions of texts (I mean, let’s face it:
the basic knowledge of, say, macroeconomics hasn’t changed a whole lot in
the last ten years). It’s all just to kill the used book market.
Does the word "collusion" come to mind when one thinks of publishers and
college bookstores, though? It’s an interesting thought (wonder if some
good college newspaper has looked into this lately)…
What can you do about it? Not a whole lot, it seems. "Bookboards" at
some schools attract enough people who want to sell their books directly
to other students. When I was at the Univ of Alaska Fairbanks (a big
engineering school), many of us sold our lower-division books to younger
students as we finished. I sold mine for whatever price the bookstore was
buying the book back.
Sometimes, students give their texts to their professors at the end of
their classes so that they can put them on reserve in the library for
other students to use in the future (I’ve done this but usually it was
because whatever the bookstore was buying them back pissed me off so much
that I’d rather give the text away).
Some instructors don’t care which text you use, either, just so long as it
is appropriate for the course. But all around, it is a total raw deal.
_______________________________________
John Aaron Atkins
PharmD. (’00), Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana
jatkins…@aol.com, http://members.aol.com/jatkins679/john.html
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
JAtkins679 (jatkins…@aol.com) wrote:
: College textbooks are a scam, you are right. They put out a "new" edition
: with a couple of new photos/graphs, some new problems, and that is all
: that is usually new about "new" editions of texts (I mean, let’s face it:
: the basic knowledge of, say, macroeconomics hasn’t changed a whole lot in
: the last ten years). It’s all just to kill the used book market.
You forgot to mention the addition of more colors…
:
: Does the word "collusion" come to mind when one thinks of publishers and
: college bookstores, though? It’s an interesting thought (wonder if some
: good college newspaper has looked into this lately)…
AFAIK, the publishers are making a huge profit, and the bookstores
a small profit.
–
Albert Yang |"Reports of my assimilation have
Internet: apy…@ucdavis.edu | been greatly exaggerated."
http://dcn.davis.ca.us/~albert/ | – Jean-Luc Picard, ST:FC
On Thu, 06 Mar 1997 23:01:52 -0700, sockeye <sock…@nospam.wanted> wrote:
> When I was in school, we used the Harbrace College Handbook in a
>writing class. It was in it’s 11th edition at that point. Our teacher
>mentioned parenthetically that the writers were dead and had been for
>years, but that the publishers kept changing editions. How did they do
>it? Simple. The writers had produced something like 20 editions all at
>once. New editions were just taken from the stash, so the 14th edition
>was in no way a revision or improvement on the 13th.
> Capitalism in refined form … it hacks me off but I can see the
>motive.
Even if the author is not dead they do rush out books with really shoddy
quality. Have anyone seen the quality of Prentice-Hall academic book
lately? I am talking about computer books. Every two years they rush out
a book and it is filled with egregious error. It gotton so bad now I
avoid all Prentice Hall books. I will only make an exception if it is from
a respectable author like Tanenbaum.
Along the same class are the Que, IDG. They take the philosophy that just
padding the book will sell it. I have a couple of their book and they are
next to useless, but I just don’t like throwing thing away.
I like Addison-Wesley book thought. They in my humble opinion, put out top
rated computer books. Other good publishers on the list have to be
Oreiley(sp) and M&T and Microsoft Press.
Hung Chau (hc…@bardeen.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
: On Thu, 06 Mar 1997 23:01:52 -0700, sockeye <sock…@nospam.wanted> wrote:
: > When I was in school, we used the Harbrace College Handbook in a
: >writing class. It was in it’s 11th edition at that point. Our teacher
: >mentioned parenthetically that the writers were dead and had been for
: >years, but that the publishers kept changing editions. How did they do
: >it? Simple. The writers had produced something like 20 editions all at
: >once. New editions were just taken from the stash, so the 14th edition
: >was in no way a revision or improvement on the 13th.
: > Capitalism in refined form … it hacks me off but I can see the
: >motive.
: Even if the author is not dead they do rush out books with really shoddy
: quality. Have anyone seen the quality of Prentice-Hall academic book
: lately? I am talking about computer books. Every two years they rush out
: a book and it is filled with egregious error. It gotton so bad now I
: avoid all Prentice Hall books. I will only make an exception if it is from
: a respectable author like Tanenbaum.
: Along the same class are the Que, IDG. They take the philosophy that just
: padding the book will sell it. I have a couple of their book and they are
: next to useless, but I just don’t like throwing thing away.
: I like Addison-Wesley book thought. They in my humble opinion, put out top
: rated computer books. Other good publishers on the list have to be
: Oreiley(sp) and M&T and Microsoft Press.
I have some professors required us to buy some textbooks but never use
them in calss. After the semester is over, we could not get rid of them
bacause they have changed their text for next semester!
I hope one day we could download our text from the publisher through the net
(some are available right now.) This way we can save some bucks and
save some trees.
Sue-Lin Chung
Arizona State University
They are expensive because nobody else will pay for them, get a clue
dude……….students finance the entire production line….do you ever
see the texts in the local book store?
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
asu…@imap2.asu.edu wrote:
> Hung Chau (hc…@bardeen.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
> : On Thu, 06 Mar 1997 23:01:52 -0700, sockeye <sock…@nospam.wanted> wrote:
> : > When I was in school, we used the Harbrace College Handbook in a
> : >writing class. It was in it’s 11th edition at that point. Our teacher
> : >mentioned parenthetically that the writers were dead and had been for
> : >years, but that the publishers kept changing editions. How did they do
> : >it? Simple. The writers had produced something like 20 editions all at
> : >once. New editions were just taken from the stash, so the 14th edition
> : >was in no way a revision or improvement on the 13th.
> : > Capitalism in refined form … it hacks me off but I can see the
> : >motive.
> : Even if the author is not dead they do rush out books with really shoddy
> : quality. Have anyone seen the quality of Prentice-Hall academic book
> : lately? I am talking about computer books. Every two years they rush out
> : a book and it is filled with egregious error. It gotton so bad now I
> : avoid all Prentice Hall books. I will only make an exception if it is from
> : a respectable author like Tanenbaum.
> : Along the same class are the Que, IDG. They take the philosophy that just
> : padding the book will sell it. I have a couple of their book and they are
> : next to useless, but I just don’t like throwing thing away.
> : I like Addison-Wesley book thought. They in my humble opinion, put out top
> : rated computer books. Other good publishers on the list have to be
> : Oreiley(sp) and M&T and Microsoft Press.
> I have some professors required us to buy some textbooks but never use
> them in calss. After the semester is over, we could not get rid of them
> bacause they have changed their text for next semester!
> I hope one day we could download our text from the publisher through the net
> (some are available right now.) This way we can save some bucks and
> save some trees.
> Sue-Lin Chung
> Arizona State University
Neat idea, but we’ll be done with college by then, and security of
copyrights will be much better.
On 8 Mar 1997 07:53:08 GMT, asu…@imap2.asu.edu wrote:
>I hope one day we could download our text from the publisher through the net
>(some are available right now.) This way we can save some bucks and
>save some trees.
>Sue-Lin Chung
>Arizona State University
Oh, where?
Carmine
Albert Yang wrote:
> JAtkins679 (jatkins…@aol.com) wrote:
> :
> : Does the word "collusion" come to mind when one thinks of publishers and
> : college bookstores, though? It’s an interesting thought (wonder if some
> : good college newspaper has looked into this lately)…
> AFAIK, the publishers are making a huge profit, and the bookstores
> a small profit.
I also get the impression that the authors make even less, although I
have absolutely no evidence to back this claim. You would think
Halliday & Resnick would be millionaires by now (they may be). Does
anyone have sales of some standard textbooks and how much money the
authors made?
–
KSG
Bring the Noise on KSDT UCSD
Tuesdays 4-6pm
KSDT: http://scw.ucsd.edu/ksdt/index.html
Personal: http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/kgatlin/