Why do textbooks cost so much

Though her professor was able to work with her to a point, her grade suffered. The study surveyed over 1, people. All three major college textbook publishing companies have also experienced decreasing trends in overall annual revenue during the same period. Some publishing and digital content companies partially attribute the decline in textbook spending to recent efforts to market their materials differently and, according to them, more affordably. But textbook-affordability advocates counter that the digital models championed by publishers could detract from other, more cost-effective solutions, like free online textbooks that they maintain are essential to easing financial burdens on students.

Public Interest Research Group PIRG , says the affordability problem in the commercial textbook market stems from a fundamental imbalance in the supply-and-demand chain. This contingency structure, Vitez believes, has led publishing companies since the s to raise costs exponentially. Hesitant to make an enemy out of the internet, major publishing companies responded by adopting similar digital models. In , the Department of Education may have inadvertently cleared the way for more changes with a regulation that allowed colleges and universities to include textbook prices in tuition and fee charges.

I never sell my complimentary books, of course, because I believe it unethical to sell for profit something I was given by a company in good faith. However, apparently many professors do sell their books. Now the textbook company gets hit by a double whammy: The book they produced to give to a professor for possible adoption enters the market and takes away a new book sale in the marketplace!

What can you as an individual do about the used book problem and the rising cost of textbooks? If you have too many books, give them to prisons, or libraries, or deserving students. The textbook companies themselves have few alternatives in dealing with this problem.

They can and do raise the price of the books so that they try to recoup their investment on the first sale hence the high price of textbooks. They can revise the book frequently, which renders the previous edition obsolete. They can try to bundle in or shrink-wrap some additional item a workbook, a CD with the new text, so that students will need to buy new books to get the free item.

This strategy can work, but some bookstores will just unbundle the book from the study guide and sell both! Unless and until laws are changed to prevent the organized sale of used books, you can expect textbook prices to keep increasing. The costs of textbooks is extremely high. The reason for this, is because of the used book market. The money made off of these used books will not go to the author who published it.

Money made off of used books will go to the companies who bought and sold the used books. Meaning in order to maintain money flow for everyone involved in buying, selling, and publishing books the prices needed to be raised. These are the reasons textbook prices have elevated over the past couple of decades.

Used books are not pirated copies. If so, such models need to be amended to reflect reality. Where do they imagine each one of their books goes, once a reader has finished with it? And, if the argument the author posits here is valid, why are not all new books vastly more expensive than they used to be? Great post. Things have gotten worse since it was written. Somewhat off-topic: check out the prices for research books—hundreds of dollars even for used ones even on eBay. Unlike textbooks, these are usually very low volume, and sold almost exclusively to university libraries and academic researchers who are spending grant money for them.

This article, like much of psychology itself, is unscientific handwaving. It merely presents a claim, makes straw man arguments to rebut counter claims, presents NO evidence to support its central tenets, and then merely declares them to be so.

If the author found purchasing a used text so easy in the s, and the author and published made no money then, either, the claim that used books explains the increased prices in texts simply does not explain the data.

If they are legal to sell i. The fundamental reason why there is a huge market in used textbooks is that textbook authors and publishers nowadays are not producing books that are worth keeping after the course has concluded. APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February , you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation.

For more information, please see our Community Guidelines. Contact him at hroediger psychologicalscience. Pipeline programs also known as pathway programs are designed to provide support and resources to aspiring, early-career, and established scholars from diverse ethnic, gender, and economic backgrounds.

Researchers suggest a number of incentives to support the development of more practical theories. Women in the field have come so far—and have some distance yet to go. Julian February 19, Simeon Hope August 28, E Douglas Jensen August 28, Mark Choi August 29, Roland Hutchinson February 1, Related Exploring Pipeline Programs That Will Support Your Academic Journey Pipeline programs also known as pathway programs are designed to provide support and resources to aspiring, early-career, and established scholars from diverse ethnic, gender, and economic backgrounds.

Putting Practical Theories into Action Researchers suggest a number of incentives to support the development of more practical theories. We use technologies, such as cookies, to customize content and advertising, to provide social media features and to analyse traffic to the site. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners.

Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email.

Allen Grove. College Admissions Expert. Allen Grove is an Alfred University English professor and a college admissions expert with over 20 years of experience helping students transition to college. Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter. Updated October 03, Featured Video.

Cite this Article Format. Grove, Allen. Find Your Textbooks for Cheap or Free. The Top 10 Gifts for College Students.