January 13, 2008

College Textbooks “Racket”

As college students far and wide start a new semester, they fume at exorbitant costs of textbooks. Many paper-back tomes of $100 each are out-dated and valueless next term.

Textbook publishers – with help from a few colluding professors -- are driving education out of reach for poor students who need it most.

Students, parents, and conscientious educators are being ill served by the Florida Board of Governors that oversees institutions of higher learning in our state.

Newspapers, civic leaders and commentators are starting to turn a spotlight on the rip-off. The latest exposé coming to notice is the Wall Street Journal, Fort Myers News-Press and Charlotte County Sun-Herald.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office two years ago determined that textbook prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation over the past two decades.

Consequently, 18 states have passed laws that aim to make professors --who assign books -- more cost conscious. Some measures are intended to give professors more pricing information when negotiating with publishers.

Way to go, guys! Let me chime in.

(Full disclosure: I have faculty friends at Edison College, Florida Gulf Coast University and University of Florida who have published, non-required, books -- but decry the ballooning cost of post-public-school education.)

Soaring costs, and competition, are pinching some locally-oriented colleges and universities.

A watchdog in Florida guarding the academic and financial health is the Board of Governors.

We saw that Board in action recently when it (rightly) denied FGCU permission to establish a satellite campus in the Charlotte County boondocks.

Nonetheless, a need is still urgent for a four-year satellite campus closer to prospective students – in partnership with the outstanding Charlotte Edison community two-year College.

Monopoly

Textbooks are a monopoly for institutions of higher learning. Like all monopolies, their consumers are gigged.

Edison College - Charlotte Campus

Bookstores at Edison and FGCU are managed by Follett Higher Education Group – not by the school. However, Follett also struggles to make textbooks affordable.

Greatest beneficiaries of schoolbook sales are the publishers, according to the National Association of College Stores.

The association estimates the average two-year student this school year will pay $921 for required books.

Theoretically, textbooks can be returned – greatly discounted – for resale. However, publishers have a neat racket. Many tweak their textbooks every year with “updates” solicited (for fee) from ambitious professors.

Of course, the Florida Board of Governors is obligated to require the “latest” information for college textbooks.

This is laudatory for students seeking professional degrees in medicine, science, engineering and – of course – law.

However, most students are seeking a “door-opener” for an ordinary job or social acceptance. Their textbooks are based on verities that are centuries old and change slowly.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Collected Writings are as cogent today as they were when I was in college many moons ago. With some Shakespeare thrown in for good measure.

Investigating

Florida’s “Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability” is investigating textbook prices and purchasing practices of state colleges and universities.

Results are expected to be released in February.

Florida Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) plans to introduce a bill this month aimed at controlling textbook costs.

She says,

“We may have very low tuition in the state of Florida, but some students are spending $800 to $900 on textbooks – almost as much as tuition.

“Professors are not prohibited from choosing textbooks they have authored -- thus collecting royalties from the pockets of their students.”

Charlotte County

Dr. Patricia Land, president of Edison College Charlotte County Florida, says:

“In my 30 years in higher education at the community college level, I have seen very few faculty publish textbooks that are used in their classrooms.

“They don’t take on major research grants because we aren’t in the publish-or-perish area of education. And the few that produced lab manuals, or supplemental texts, didn’t get rich.

“One of the exciting new advances in recent years is how faculty are using personal websites to post lecture notes and links to other locations on the Internet.

“Their hopes are of not only avoiding rising textbook costs; but also of providing a better learning experience.

“Imagine the art teacher who electronically sends students to museum websites rather than asking them to purchase art reproductions.

“And the language teacher who can instantly instruct students to read foreign newspapers.”

Email Education

Florida Gulf Coast University - Whitaker Hall

Follett bookstores at Edison and FGCU will offer a limited selection of e-textbooks that allow students to download books at half price.

Dr. Land’s recognition of the growing use of email in education is the wave of the future.

Students will “attend” lectures -- and participate in class discussion – from their homes via the Internet.

Some of this is already in practice locally.

Board Of Governors

Guarding the intellectual integrity of Florida’s university system is a Board of Governors. It is comprised of 16 members – 13 of whom are appointed by the Florida Governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate for terms of seven years.

The remaining members include the President of the Advisory Council of the Faculty Senate, the Commissioner of Education, and the Chair of the Florida Student Council.

Board members – and professions -- are:

It is curious to see so many lawyers on the board, but we live in a parlous age.

If the spirit moves you to pow-wow with one of, or all, the Board of Governors – speak gently. They are great people donating their time and doing the best they can.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist