Lawmakers take aim at high textbook prices

Michael Krellner walked out of The Book Center with a heavier backpack and a lighter bank… Michael Krellner walked out of The Book Center with a heavier backpack and a lighter bank account. He just spent $110 on a single textbook.

“And that was used. The new ones were $150 or $160,” Krellner said.

Krellner, a Pitt senior, estimates he spends between $300 and $500 on textbooks every semester. Whenever his total is under $450, he should consider himself lucky. According to a study conducted by California and Oregon public interest groups, students nationwide spent an average of $898 every year on textbooks.

College students and research groups are not the only ones noting the high prices. State legislators nationwide are beginning to act as study after study reveals escalating prices and questionable sales tactics. These tactics include “bundling,” and producing new editions more frequently than in years past.

Pennsylvania is one of 16 states to have proposed bills that will attempt to make textbooks more affordable.

House Bill 1842 would make it illegal for publishers or retailers to sell only “bundled” books, textbooks which can only be purchased with supplemental items such as a CD-ROM or workbook. The publisher or retailer would be required to also sell the textbook without those accompaniments, or “unbundled.”

Representative Elinor Taylor, R-West Chester, introduced the bill. Taylor, a Republican, is a member of the Council of Trustees at West Chester University and proposed the bill in response to a campus bookstore’s concerns, according to Michael Stoll, Taylor’s assistant.

According to Stoll, Taylor decided to focus on the practice of “bundling” textbooks after reading “Rip-Off 101,” two studies conducted by the California Public Interest Research Group.

The studies found that textbook prices increased 62 percent since 1994 and that “bundling” is one way publishers drive up the cost of textbooks. Bundled textbooks were found to be, on average, 10 percent more expensive than an unbundled book.

According to a survey conducted last year by the United States Government Accountability Office, publishers say they have increased bundling because of rising demand from professors and increases in part-time faculty who request supplements.

The GAO also found new editions are coming out every three to four years. A decade ago new editions were usually published every four to five years. New editions affect the number of used textbooks available and the amount of money for which students can resell their books.

One publisher interviewed by the GAO said “that the current revision cycle…is tied to the pattern of sales revenues, which…decline the longer the textbook is on the market.”

Thirty bills have been proposed nationwide to curb increasing textbook costs, but only those introduced in Virginia and Washington have become law.

Pennsylvania’s bill was introduced last summer, and on July 2 it was assigned to the Committee of Consumer Affairs. If it is not voted on by Nov. 30, the end of the legislative session, it will “die.”

John Burns, textbook manager of Pitt’s on-campus bookstore, believes the bundles are not always a “bad deal” but will call professors who ordered bundles to ask if he can sell the items separately. He is skeptical that the legislation will help reduce book costs.

“The legislation would definitely help used books become more available,” Burns said. “If legislation would come and prevent bundling, [the publishers] would continue to raise prices on individual pieces so used books could cost as much as the original new text.”