The cost of textbooks has been increasing nearly as fast as the cost of tuition and fees. During the past 20 years, it has increased at twice the rate of overall inflation. Full-time undergraduate Maryland students now spend an average of $960 a year for required readings.
All this is happening at a time when student aid is decreasing and student debt is increasing. This year Congress cut billions from the federal student aid programs, the largest single cut ever. It also raised interest rates on Stafford loans and parent loans for undergraduate students. The average debt for graduating college seniors who borrow to finance their undergraduate degree is just under $20,000.
We can’t reverse what Congress has done, but we can do something about the high cost of textbooks. We can quickly and easily lower the cost of textbooks on the campus by at least a million dollars. How would you like a million dollars?
The money comes from selling books at the end of the semester and buying used books at the beginning of the next semester. Local bookstores buy back most books that have been re-ordered at 50 percent of the new book price. If the book has not been re-ordered, the bookstores buy books at the wholesale price, which is never much. It ranges from nothing to 35 percent – the average is 15 percent. Students who are able to buy used books save a lot of money because used books sell for 25 percent off the new book price.
The key to getting more money when selling books and paying less money when buying books is faculty ordering books on time. Some individual faculty members and a few departments already do. Professors Ellen Williams in physics and Peter Murrell in economics always order books on time. The same is true of the departments of mathematics and chemistry. Several others do, too. Nevertheless, in the past, most faculty have been tardy when it comes to meeting the university deadline for ordering books. Last May, only 30 percent of book orders were received on time, and most students who sold books received the small wholesale price. Some received nothing at all. Bummer.
There are legitimate reasons why all books cannot be ordered on time, but 80 percent can. It happened last semester. Because such a high proportion of book orders were in on time, the University Book Center alone paid students an excess of $469,000 for used books, more than double the amount of one year earlier. I presume the increase was similar at Maryland Book Exchange and Bookholders. Added together, the three bookstores probably paid students more than $750,000 for used books at the end of last semester. At the beginning of this semester, the stock of used books available for purchase was unusually high. The University Book Center sold 35 percent more used books than it did in spring 2005. The Maryland Book Exchange estimates students saved over $400,000 by buying used books at its store.
University policy instructs faculty to order books that are to be required reading for summer and fall courses by May 1. The provost has urged the faculty to comply. The Council of the University System Faculty has asked professors to take steps to lower the cost of textbooks. The sooner book orders are in and posted, the sooner students can shop online for the best prices and make informed trades and sales with one another. As of yesterday morning, 80 percent of book orders were still outstanding. Think mayday.
Last semester, when the “I’d Rather Be Studying” campaign and others nudged faculty in the direction of timely book orders, the faculty came through like champions. Eighty-one percent of book orders were in on time, and a whopping 95 percent when buy-back began 10 days later. It can happen again. Now is the time for all good students to come to the aid of the campaign. Nudge your professors to order books sooner. It’s university policy. It saves students money. It prevents students who are skidding on the black ice of college costs from crashing. It aids retention. It helps the environment by recycling. It creates community. It’s the right thing to do.
John Pease is an associate professor of sociology. He can be reached at pease@umd.edu.
