The textbooks are expensive thing again

It appears someone in North Dakota has become interested in textbook costs.

The average college student spends $655 on textbooks each year, according to the National Association of College Stores.

As I have indicated on multiple occasions, it is far more complicated (sometimes for fun and sometimes seriously). First, students resell their textbooks so the $665 cost over time actually is reduced by half. Economists probably have a term for the “actual” cost in contrast to the initial cost. Second. a textbook and other resources serve different functions. A textbook provides an integrated structure. Various YouTube or Merlot resources address topics. To equate a book with unrelated resources is comparing apples and oranges. While advanced students are expected to be able to impose a structure on multiple sources, this is a serious challenge for beginning students working outside of their areas of interest and knowledge. Anyway, it is complicated and simplistic solutions have more political appeal than educational benefit. As an instructor, I am far more concerned that students read the textbook they have purchased than what the book cost. Of course, if you do not read the book or attend class, the cost of the course and the book is too much.

I do not want to come across as defending the cost of textbooks. However, I do know far more than most about costs having written a commercial textbook and having offered low cost alternatives. Hence, I am always annoyed when those with little actual experience make pronouncements. Take any area for which there is a general public need – say medical care – there are always those who claim the costs are too high and someone must be compensated more than is appropriate. Why is it we complain about textbook costs as a political issue and not how much we had to pay for an x-ray the last time we visited the dentist? If these issues are real, it is worth a careful rather than a superficial look.

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