Textbooks are not cheap. A quick look around Calvin’s bookstore reveals that many books sell for upwards of $100. These expensive books contribute to student debt and financial insecurity during college years. Worse still, expensive textbooks harm students’ learning. According to survey data from 2014, 65% of students reported that high prices made them decide not to purchase a textbook for their course. Expensive course materials constitute a barrier to student learning. 

Within the college setting, textbook publishers operate like monopolies. Normally, if someone is looking to learn more about biology, they might go to a bookstore and pick out a biology book that seems interesting to them. Price is not the only thing they consider, but it is certainly a part of the process. 

Textbooks are different in that the student does not choose which book to buy; their professor does. This disconnect means that professors are more biased towards considering non-price reasons in the textbook selection process, while students — especially students who have much lower incomes — would consider price more heavily. This monopoly problem is exacerbated by publishing tactics.

One tactic publishers rely on is upselling textbooks with online program subscriptions. While these programs can be useful for teaching, their interfaces can be confusing, and they substitute computerized grading for feedback from a professor or teaching assistant. Additionally, online subscriptions have no resale value for students.

Textbook publishers also use book editions to charge higher prices. Many textbooks are rewritten and published every couple of years. While this process often involves updating data, correcting errors and including new research directions, some books receive almost no edits. In a newly designed cover, the same textbook is repackaged as “the latest scholarship,” and publishers charge full price.

While textbooks are certainly too expensive, it is important to note that textbooks should be a little pricey. Textbooks are usually hardcover and are often printed on full-color pages. This manufacturing process is not cheap. Additionally, most textbooks are written by multiple professors who are paid to synthesize massive amounts of highly specialized information in an understandable way. Writing a book is difficult; writing a textbook is a monumental undertaking.

Despite these costs, it is important that textbooks be made available to students –– especially those who cannot afford the books they need for their education. In search of cheaper textbook options, many students turn to buying used course materials from Calvin’s bookstore and sites like Amazon. While this is an easy way to access textbooks at reduced prices, in the future, students would benefit from developing better student-to-student reselling markets that avoid bookstore middlemen and cut costs even further.

Additionally, students can find many of their course materials in libraries for free. While the Hekman Library contains suspiciously few of the books that professors assign at Calvin (these should theoretically be the most popular books), it is connected to the Michigan E-Library (MEL) system. MEL connects the Hekman Library to other libraries in Michigan, allowing Calvin students to borrow books from anywhere in the state. 

Additionally, Hekman Library maintains a little-known collection of publications from Calvin professors — many of which are digitized and can be accessed or printed for free. Not only are these options cheaper for students, they also are more sustainable in the long run.

Professors can assign open-source textbooks (such as CORE Econ and My Open Math), which are free, respected and online for everyone. Professors can also opt not to use textbooks at all. Non-textbook academic books have their prices set partially outside of monopolistic academic settings and therefore can be cheaper (albeit more specialized) sources of knowledge. If a professor must use a textbook but is only planning on using a few chapters, they can upload the content to Moodle.

Finally, students and professors can communicate more clearly about what textbooks are required and if an older edition of a textbook will be sufficient. As experts in their fields, professors can discern if the changes made to a textbook are significant enough to justify buying the newest edition — and students deserve to know if they can learn using older and cheaper versions of their books. 

Monopoly power and publishing tactics have driven textbook prices to astronomical levels — textbook prices should not be a barrier to education. But, from buying used books to transitioning to open-source materials, there are ways for students and professors to work towards a more affordable and inclusive model for education.