Textbooks

Some General Advice, David Robinson June 2010

Disclaimer

This is well-intentioned advice--some of the recommendations might not fit your situation and circumstances my change over time. Evaluate the information and use your own judgment.

Q: Why are textbooks so expensive?

A: Through the 1980s, colleges charged relatively low tuition (they paid poorly and lived off their endowments). As the number of applicants rose at the most competitive schools, college administrations realized that they were underpricing their offering. Over a couple of decades, college tuitions rose way faster than the rate of inflation, close to the maximum any customer would pay (about $50K a year at the most-expensive colleges).

The Textbook Publishers slowly woke up to the possibility of similarly inflating the price of books as a complementary good (just like the $10 connector cable you need for a new set of loudspeakers). You've noticed this: A paperback John Grisham novel costs you $7.99 new, but a paperback statistics textbook runs $45 or more.

In return for jacking up the price, publishers did add more value to the books:

However, we've now reached a point were the full cost of 5 or more textbooks for a semester of study has a material impact on students' ability to afford college.

Q: Why don't you just use the old edition?

The advantage of using an old edition of a textbook is that there are usually plenty of used copies available. But very quickly, there are difficulties in getting enough copies (used and new) in stock at the bookstores and some students have to buy the new edition anyway. Even assuming that the new edition is just a rearrangement of the material with little that's new, there's pain in switching from one edition to the next and that pain has to be embraced sooner or later.

While I occasionally hold onto the old adoption for one semester, in general, as soon as a new edition is announced and available on shelf I switch to the new edition. My thinking is that you have to do it sometime and delaying the switch-over doesn't reduce the pain.

Q: Why don't you just put the textbook on reserve at the library?

This ends up being the worst of all worlds—students in the class don't buy the textbook and come exam time, hundreds of people are trying to share a few books. No matter how many books you put on reserve it's never enough. Additionally, this defeats the whole system of authors, publishers, profits, free-market and textbook writing.

Q: Some people in my class clubbed together and bought one book that they all xeroxed. Isn't this a violation of copyright?

Yes, it's clearly illegal. But see joint ownership without copying, below.

Options (Assuming a $100 book)

1. Buy the book new, and plan to keep it for ever.

You'll do this rarely, for one or two principal texts in your major field where you can imagine using the book for reference material in your professional life. Full cost $100.

1.a. Buy a lose-leaf (3-hole punch) edition of the book. The big publishers offer a lose-leafed edition of the most popular texts. There is some advantage to being able to take one chapter with you at a time, or to integrate your notes and the text into one binder. Of course, the publishers hope that it'll be impossible for you to then put it all back together and re-sell, so they are hoping on a one-time use of the book. You might not find this version on-shelf, but you might be able to order it. For a $100 book, the price would be about $65.

2. Buy and sell back at the end of the Semester.

Assuming a $100 text, you'll likely be able to sell it back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. The offer is bad—usually only $40, and that makes  your full cost $60.

However, you'll likely get more (at least $50) in a private sale to someone on campus or by posting the book on Amazon as an individual seller.

3: Buy used, where available.

The textbook stores usually carry some used copies of established texts; they are not cheap, say $70, and may not be in the best condition. However, you might be able to resell again at the end of the semester, for a possible full cost of about $40.

4. Rent the textbook.

There are several internet-based firms that will rent textbooks. The cost ends up being close to option 2 (buy/resell), about $60. There are some delays in getting the book in, you have to be super-careful with the text and you have to be prompt about returning it at the end of the semester (or you get charged the full cost).

5. Read the book online or on an ereader

Most textbooks aren't readily available in e-formats yet. However, in the next few years,  you may well see "Kindle" or Apple iBooks versions offered. A true e-book with have hyperlinking to indexes and definitions and will be an enhanced product. Based on the prices for current e-books,  you'd expect to pay about half the price of the on-paper book. You wouldn't be able to give the book to anyone else or resell, but you could in theory own the book for forever.

e-textbooks are a serious consideration for people who read hundreds of pages (e.g. history & literature classes). Check Amazon and the publisher's website to see if there is an e-Book available.
 

Many textbooks are available online; Cengage has e-versions of many books, and the other main publishers often show their books through CourseSmart. CourseSmart isn't a true e-book, it's reproductions of the pages of the conventional book, so it's not appealing to most people. It is an option if you are studying internationally (including coming back to Cal from Study Abroad) and want to read the book without waiting for it to be shipped. Cost would be about $50 on a $100 book.

6. Form a "syndicate" with friends in the class to share a book

If you have four or five classes in a semester, you won't be reading a specific textbook every day. It's worth considering buying once copy of a text that is shared between a few people in the same class. There are some classes where it's best to bring the text to class and to follow-along each day. Clearly sharing a book wouldn't work there. But for other classes where you just  have to keep up with the reading each week, it's a possibility.

A syndicate works well for close friends and of course room mates. You will be limited on how much you can mark up the text and you should have a rule as to who has primary access to the book on which days so you don't have a major fight leading up to exams. You have the option to resell the book at the end of the semester. Cost $100/N where N is the number of people in the syndicate.