As Textbook Prices Rise, Students Share Strategies to Save

Phoenix AZ

02 December, 2021

8:41 PM

Description

The price of an average college textbook has risen from $68 to $84 over the last ten years, according to Untied States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a 24% jump that shows no signs of slowing down. The inflationary issue is important and historied; Between 1977 and 2015, the cost of textbooks increased by over 1000%, according to the BLS. As of 2020, they reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI, defined by BLS as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services") for college textbooks from July 2011 to March 2018 increased 40.6%- the second highest CPI for tuition and school related items as of 2020 and historically the highest. "I honestly think that it goes to show how students get the short end of the stick," said Laura Mack, an undergraduate at Arizona State University. "Textbooks go up and pay doesn't, and there's no option for the textbooks is what the problem is." Mack said that another key component to the unfair nature of textbooks in college is the fact that there are no alternatives. Oftentimes, she says, the fact that there is only one source for the textbook makes it so the publisher can charge any price. "In my mind, it doesn't make sense why a textbook would cost that much. I mean, half of the are online or are courses online. How does that cost hundreds?" Said Mack. According to educationdata.org, the cost of a textbook on average is $84 in 2020. Additionally, each new edition of a textbook sees the price of the textbook increase by 12% on average. "The highest I have had to pay is $250," said Arizona State undergraduate Patrick Apap about textbook costs. "That was for Spanish, which gave you a twelve-digit code or the like." Apap said he believed textbooks should be free. He shared his strategy for getting as close to free as possible. "For a lot of these textbooks, what people don't know is that there are PDF's, there are websites that have scans of these things. If you searched a title of a textbook plus '.pdf download' or '.epub download,' you can find the book," said Apap. Another student takes his textbook search to another level. In 2008, the consolidation of many Russian file sharing sites to have a central hub to distribute files of paywalled academic content online created Library Genesis, or LibGen, where anyone can access such content with relatively simple computer knowledge. "LibGen is all I have to say, man," said Garrett Greene, an engineering student at Arizona State University. "I've saved hundreds just by downloading what I need to." Textbooks, more often than not, are copyrighted works, with fines existing to warrant the downloading of such material, and especially the distribution of it. However, there have been zero instances of such a fine being imposed for someone in Apap's position. For students facing rising costs such as Greene, a little piracy goes a long way. But it isn't a perfect set up. "It doesn't work a lot of time for, like, online codes or special programs. But for textbooks or Adobe, like Photoshop, you know? It's perfect." Said Greene. On top of that, the biggest question that remains is the ethicality of piracy, especially in the context of rising costs. "I don't have an answer for if it is ethical," said Greene. "It isn't ethical to raise prices just 'cuz you can, so." SOURCES: Education data: https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college-textbooks BLS: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/cost-of-college-tuition-has-remained-stable-since-september-2019.htm Laura Mack: [email protected] Patrick Apap: [email protected] Garrett Greene: [email protected]