Show WHY HY YOUR BOOK COT Co T I By Heidi Slack Contributing Write Students across the nation spend a fortune on textbooks each semester and each semester students look for someone to blame The answers to this costly dilemma may not lay in finding the whom but in understanding the whys Lets Let's be honest here College textbooks cost too much Semester after semester students are faced with this reality as he or she passes 60 over the counter for a used paperback He or she wonders book will ever touch another hand because a new edition will surely be released next term tenn making this edition virtually worthless 1 n U J. J i r this is true more often then not with the average life of a textbook being only about 18 months Although there is no denying prices are outrageous pinning the blame on one organization in the book supply business would be like blaming one snowflake for an avalanche As a textbook goes through each step of being created from the author to the publisher to the bookstore a little more money is added each step of the way Each organization must charge enough to cover costs and make a small profit By the time the book ends up in the hands of a student the price is high but not completely unreasonable considering what it has gone through to get there The first and most costly step for a book is the creation and production production production pro pro- of a book In fact cents out of each textbook dollar goes toward these costs according to 1998 data gathered by the National Association of College Stores Many factors like the number of illustrations or the quality of the paper will determine the final cost of a book However the most important factor lies in how many books will be printed A size of a books book's market greatly greatly greatly great great- ly affects the price of a book even more than how a book is bound or orthe orthe orthe the number of pictures the book has Books of identical binding size and quality of materials can cost two completely different prices to produce depending on how popular the book is For example example example exam exam- a John Grisham book is so popular it is produced mass-produced and sold by the truckload so the cost per copy is actually quite low The same principle exists in buying 24 rolls of toilet paper instead of a 4 pack You pay more up front but the cost per roll is generally less in packages of 24 rather than of 4 On the other hand a textbook about writing for the mass media is not produced in the numbers a John Grisham book is No matter how many teachers require the text for a class a textbook will never be in demand enough to be produced in bulk The same effort of production is made for fewer books therefore textbooks will always cost more A majority of books at and the U of U are published by large publishing companies and self-published self by faculty members teaching at Utah schools as well as schools around the country While the production of a book can be expensive the majority of a books book's cost goes back to these companies and individuals That profit isn't much though-only though 76 cents on each dollar of textbook sales according to the Many students assume college bookstores jack up the prices for a comfortable profit Ironically this is not the case Local bookstores like Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah are forced to provide competitive prices without relying on tax dollars dollars dollars dol dol- dol- dol lars to offset their operating expenses Many students assume that lots lotsof lotsof lotsof of money paid means lots of money made by bookstores explains David Jones Textbook Sales Manager Manager Manager Man Man- ager at the U ofU bookstore The reality of the situation is the bookstore bookstore bookstore book book- store only makes 3 cents profit on the dollar and those 3 t arent aren't guaranteed to the bookstore re At the U of U the profit goes into a bond fund to which other t. t university departments contribute The money is then divided up according to need often funding larger university projects before going back into the departments supporting this fund Money contributed contributed contributed con con- to this bond fund has funded funded funded fund fund- ed the completion of the Kingsbury Hall renovation not to mention the maintenance and utility costs for new buildings on campus In the 10 years that Jones has been at the bookstore the bookstore has managed managed man man- managed aged to break even each year after only small site improvements like new cash registers and last years year's new roof According to an interview with Sharon Riggs Textbook Manager for bookstores the financial financial financial finan finan- cial situation at the college mirrors r that of the U. U However one major difference between the bookstores exists in the method of selecting So which textbooks are required for which classes This method can directly affect textbook prices 7 Continued r jf lil d JT I ll y t Your Book Cot continued from Page 1 and the U of U arc examples of two textbook selection selection selection tion practices According to Riggs utilizes committees from each department to determine which books will be required for a course As a result texts used from class to class are arc fairly stan stan- dard This method lends itself to lower costs by using more of the same same book for a longer period of time in turn producing more used books for students to buy and sell When one of these standard books is no longer required for a course bookstores save money by selling the book to other schools A group of faculty will more likely choose a book that is more mainstream at colleges across the country and are arc more marketable for this purpose The U of U administration has very little to do with the selection of textbooks Books are arc chosen using academic freedom Essentially any teacher can choose to use any book on the market in their class The decision is theirs That freedom does offer some promise of a more unique learning experience from class to class The freedom also comes at a cost Dave Jones Textbook Sales Manager at the U is forced to dedicate dedicate dedicate ded ded- several shelves to what can be referred to as the textbook graveyard These shelves are filled with books new and used that could not be sold after the book class was no longer required for a For whatever reason a teacher exercising academic freedom decided not to use the book any any- more This would not be a problem problem problem lem with mainstream committee chosen books However when given the choice teachers often choose obscure books sometimes imported from other countries that could never be used again by another class at the U or at most other institutions These books arent aren't popular like John Grisham so they couldn't even be sold to the public at a fraction fraction fraction frac frac- tion of the cost Expired to the graveyard each book represents a loss which increases the bookstore bookstore bookstore book book- store prices The inherent nature of a textbook textbook textbook text text- book will always keep prices high whether the cost comes in how the book is published or how it is chosen chosen chosen cho cho- sen for use in colleges and There are some options a student student student stu stu- stu- stu dent has to keep these costs low like using textbooks that arc are on reserve at the library or organizing a sharing book-sharing program Unfortunately these options offer little comfort to students who either have to sacrifice the money or sacrifice the convenience of having his or her own book But that may just be the nature of the beast |