Elsewhere: Tallahassee, Florida
Sunshine State Says Textbook Prices Fail Economics 101
Mon, 12 May 2008 16:17:00
College textbook prices are rising across the country and, spurred on by constituent complaints and a recent report by the Government Accountability Office in Washington, legislators across the country are taking action.
Florida Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) remembers dealing with the problem herself while a student less than a decade ago. She and her classmates were often frustrated by the high prices of books, especially when those books ultimately proved unnecessary for the course work. Eventually, they simply stopped going to the campus bookstore altogether.
“By the time you got to your senior year you had a lot of students who wouldn’t buy their books,” she said.
For three years, she has been trying to pass legislation with various provisions meant to make textbooks cheaper for students at public universities.
One of the bill’s main elements would prevent state university employees from receiving anything of value in exchange for recommending the use of a specific textbook. Flores said that while she had found no direct evidence of impropriety, she did discover that some professors who went on publisher-sponsored vacations recommended books produced by the publishers the following semester.
Flores’ bill also tackles the issue of textbook bundling, or the practice of selling new textbooks together with extra pieces, such as CDs or workbooks. The bill mandates that professors review each bundled item and guarantee its use.
In addition, Flores’ bill would force schools to release textbook requirements for each class at least 30 days before the beginning of semesters, so that students would have time to look beyond the campus bookstore for better deals. Academic departments would be forced to study the added value of switching to new editions, so that reduced-price used textbooks would be used more often.
Flores hopes her bill will allow professors to see the costs of the books they assign and reconsider assigning new editions of textbooks every year.
Flores found heavy resistance from publishing companies because of the requirements that they provide ISBN numbers for course textbooks before a semester starts, but her bill eventually passed both the Florida House and Senate and now awaits Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R) signature.
New Yorkers have been tackling rising textbook costs as well. Various student groups have joined with the New York Public Interest Research Group to campaign for a reauthorized Higher Education Act with provisions targeting bundling and ensuring colleges include ISBN numbers in their course catalogs. Representatives who sit on relevant congressional committees—including Reps. Timothy Bishop (D-Suffolk), Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), Randy Kuhl (R-Steuben/Monroe/Cattaraugus), Carolyn McCarthy (D-Nassau) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D)—have been the focus of the effort.
Meanwhile, Assembly Member Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn) is leading the charge on this issue in Albany. Her bill stipulates that state employees may not receive publishing company perks, and requires public universities to reveal required textbooks—though unlike the Florida bill, Millman’s does not set a certain amount of days before the semester by which this must be done. The bill also requires professors to show that new textbooks are significantly different from earlier editions if they are going to assign the new books.
Paul Nelson, Millman’s chief of staff, said the assembly member hoped that the bill would lower textbook prices by extending the shelf life of used textbooks.
Millman got some help in putting the bill together from someone familiar with the problem: a college intern working in her office over the spring semester spearheaded the research behind the bill and took the lead in putting together the final product. Nelson said this was typical of the office’s intern program.
“Some people say ‘Go get coffee,’ and we say, ‘No, you should learn how the legislative process works, let’s find something that works for you,’” he said.
But though the semester may be ending, Millman’s textbook bill has yet to be given a final grade. Referred to the Higher Education committees in the Senate and Assembly, the legislation is awaiting further action.
Florida Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) remembers dealing with the problem herself while a student less than a decade ago. She and her classmates were often frustrated by the high prices of books, especially when those books ultimately proved unnecessary for the course work. Eventually, they simply stopped going to the campus bookstore altogether.
“By the time you got to your senior year you had a lot of students who wouldn’t buy their books,” she said.
For three years, she has been trying to pass legislation with various provisions meant to make textbooks cheaper for students at public universities.
One of the bill’s main elements would prevent state university employees from receiving anything of value in exchange for recommending the use of a specific textbook. Flores said that while she had found no direct evidence of impropriety, she did discover that some professors who went on publisher-sponsored vacations recommended books produced by the publishers the following semester.
Flores’ bill also tackles the issue of textbook bundling, or the practice of selling new textbooks together with extra pieces, such as CDs or workbooks. The bill mandates that professors review each bundled item and guarantee its use.
In addition, Flores’ bill would force schools to release textbook requirements for each class at least 30 days before the beginning of semesters, so that students would have time to look beyond the campus bookstore for better deals. Academic departments would be forced to study the added value of switching to new editions, so that reduced-price used textbooks would be used more often.
Flores hopes her bill will allow professors to see the costs of the books they assign and reconsider assigning new editions of textbooks every year.
Flores found heavy resistance from publishing companies because of the requirements that they provide ISBN numbers for course textbooks before a semester starts, but her bill eventually passed both the Florida House and Senate and now awaits Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R) signature.
New Yorkers have been tackling rising textbook costs as well. Various student groups have joined with the New York Public Interest Research Group to campaign for a reauthorized Higher Education Act with provisions targeting bundling and ensuring colleges include ISBN numbers in their course catalogs. Representatives who sit on relevant congressional committees—including Reps. Timothy Bishop (D-Suffolk), Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), Randy Kuhl (R-Steuben/Monroe/Cattaraugus), Carolyn McCarthy (D-Nassau) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D)—have been the focus of the effort.
Meanwhile, Assembly Member Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn) is leading the charge on this issue in Albany. Her bill stipulates that state employees may not receive publishing company perks, and requires public universities to reveal required textbooks—though unlike the Florida bill, Millman’s does not set a certain amount of days before the semester by which this must be done. The bill also requires professors to show that new textbooks are significantly different from earlier editions if they are going to assign the new books.
Paul Nelson, Millman’s chief of staff, said the assembly member hoped that the bill would lower textbook prices by extending the shelf life of used textbooks.
Millman got some help in putting the bill together from someone familiar with the problem: a college intern working in her office over the spring semester spearheaded the research behind the bill and took the lead in putting together the final product. Nelson said this was typical of the office’s intern program.
“Some people say ‘Go get coffee,’ and we say, ‘No, you should learn how the legislative process works, let’s find something that works for you,’” he said.
But though the semester may be ending, Millman’s textbook bill has yet to be given a final grade. Referred to the Higher Education committees in the Senate and Assembly, the legislation is awaiting further action.
