Senator Durbin on College Textbooks- I was there!

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Yay!

Okay, so here is an article explaining what his bill is about:

"The first thing we're looking for is disclosure," Durbin said. "Let the students know when they sign up for a course what the textbooks are going to cost."

"Let's make sure the faculty know what it's going to cost the students, so that when you're choosing a course…you can take this into consideration."

Secondly, supplemental materials usually sold with the textbook will have to be sold individually.

"It will allow students to buy just the supplies they need - not an expensive bundle that includes materials not required for the class," Durbin said in a press release.

"The third thing is an ISBN number," he said. "An ISBN number is the universal number for a book. If you know that number, you can go shopping."

Colleges will be required to provide this number to students so they have a chance to find their textbooks for cheaper prices somewhere else.

"Debt usually averages $20,000 per student for four years of public education, and you can attribute 25 percent of that to the cost of textbooks," Durbin said.

Linky. (http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2008/09/03/News/Senator.Durbin.Explains.New.Textbook.Legislation-3412007.shtml)

He said that the reason he was traveling to colleges in the State was because part of the negotiating process to get the act into law was to delay its effects until July 2010.

So he was encouraging the student government and students in general to put pressure onto the school administration to start following some of the practices now.

Now, yes, I know this may sound incredibly silly to you if you haven't had to deal with college payments. But scholarships, financial aid grants, Veteran's benefits, and student loans don't apply to school books, which easily cost over $1,000 every year. So many end up paying with their credit cards and getting into debt.

For example, this year I am taking Social & Political Philosophy. The first class I had scheduled for fit into my schedule well. But a month before class started, when the textbook list was published, I found out that just one of the books for the class had a $130.00 price tag.

So then I had to drop it and find another class, at a worse off time, and I was too late to get a good professor because his class had naturally filled up already.

Now, I get my books off the internet, but it is risky because the textbook list doesn't give the ISBN number. So I might end up with the wrong book.

Evidence I was there?

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1170648c039a0a078d.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=13691)


http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1170648c039c4c6e18.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=13692)

[Madalch]

Secondly, supplemental materials usually sold with the textbook will have to be sold individually.

"It will allow students to buy just the supplies they need - not an expensive bundle that includes materials not required for the class," Durbin said in a press release.As a college instructor, I have to tell the bookstore exactly what texts or bundles I expect them to order for my students. If we're getting a bundle for our students from a publisher, they cut the cost dramatically. The two textbooks and two supplements individually would have cost $336; the bundle of the four was offered for $200.

So the senator wants to get rid of bundles?

[ETA: The supplements were access codes for the online "learning system" thingy, so they wouldn't have been able to get them anywhere else.]

[Madalch]

On the other hand, if the publishers could be convinced not to release a new edition every year or two. that would certainly bring down costs. We switched to the sixth edition of our textbook last year, and to the seventh edition this year.

[pgwenthold]

Our department has some very large classes, and so we are sort of like a 400 lb gorilla when it comes to textbook publishers. As such, we have a lot of control, and can readily get publisher concessions.

For example, a few years ago we agreed to go with a specific publisher for 3 years provided that they would agree to not change editions on us in that time. They jumped at it. Of course, then in year three, they tried to change editions on us, and we objected. So what they did was to create a special paperback version of the text, sans one or two chapters that we were not going to use, specifically to sell at our institution at the same price as what the used texts were going for. This way, the students paid the same price as for a used text (and, in fact, was net cheaper because there weren't any books at the price of the "new" text), but they got the cash.

Now, it wasn't quite as good because there was no resale value in the special edition.

So I can attest that faculty DO think about such issues, and do our best to try to work on the students' behalves.

[Madalch]

Our department has some very large classes, and so we are sort of like a 400 lb gorilla when it comes to textbook publishers.

Alas, my largest classes are capped at 16, and are seldom full. So I take whatever the publisher will offer.

[bozothedeathmachine]

On the other hand, if the publishers could be convinced not to release a new edition every year or two...

I think that's the crux of the matter. The publishers are creating their own market. A limited run of Xth Edition then switching to X+1th Edition, the only difference between the two is the color of the graph on page 123.

Devil's advocate: textbooks are pretty usually high-quality printing and binding, and their production runs are quote small in the grand-scheme. So trying to compensate for economies of scale can be undestood.

Devil's advocate to the devil's advocate: At $300 a book, the economies are scalining like a mofo.

Tantamount to highway robbery it is.

[WildCat]

Durbin is 20 years too late on this issue. Back then there was no Amazon.com, no internet book stores, only the book store on campus. And we got screwed big time!

I really don't see the need for Federal legislation over this issue. Micromanagement at its worst.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Durbin is 20 years too late on this issue. Back then there was no Amazon.com, no internet book stores, only the book store on campus. And we got screwed big time!

But if you don't get the ISBN number, it is very hard for internet books stores to compete. Free market, and all that :p .

I really don't see the need for Federal legislation over this issue. Micromanagement at its worst.

Because it will help lower the cost of a college education and decrease the indebtedness of the average college graduate?

[The Mutha]

The Dolly is in her 2nd year of college and she and her friends have come up with a fairly good way to deal with the books issue. They get together early and sign up for classes together, two or three in the same class. That way, they can share the books and the costs, as well as serve as study partners and motivators to each other. Her Anatomy & Physiology book was $175 by itself last year...

I saw something on the news the other day about an on-line service that delivers the books electronically at a much reduced price. That may well be the wave of the future for college campuses.

[WildCat]

Because it will help lower the cost of a college education and decrease the indebtedness of the average college graduate?
Why not have the student association work with your school administrators to achieve the result you want with rules customized to your school?