Textbook Bundling & Customization: Is There Value?

Testimonials

Renee Oursler usually spends $300 to $400 a semester on textbooks for her classes at the University of South Florida. But this Fall she charged $600 to her parents' credit card.

"It was by far my worst semester," said Oursler, a 21-year-old pre-med major from Maryland. "Mom got the bill and called and asked what the $600 was for. I told her it was my books. She was like, 'Jeez."'

While rising tuition is getting most of the attention from critics worried about the spiraling cost of higher education, textbook prices may be climbing even faster.

Many of the books required on Florida campuses cost more than $100 each. Some professors ask their students to buy textbook "bundles," which typically include CD-ROMs, access codes to Web sites, even a class syllabus. Their price tag can reach $300.

Not surprisingly, students are searching desperately for alternatives.

Some are going online or to independent bookstores to find cheaper copies. Some are sharing books, getting them from the library or even renting them. A few students are asking friends who have scholarships — especially Bright Futures, which includes an annual $600 stipend — to pay for their books.

Some are just doing without. About 20 percent of U.S. students don't buy all the textbooks required for their classes, according to the National Association of College Stores. That percentage is going up every year.

"It's just too expensive," said Brad Heins, textbook manager of Bill's Bookstore, a chain of independent stores near Florida State University in Tallahassee. "If you have to pay $120 for a beginning-level biology book, that's a big chunk of a student's budget."

Publishers aren't making things any easier.

They are producing new editions with bewildering frequency, sometimes after just one year. That makes it difficult for students to buy used books, which are up to 25 percent cheaper. Some publishers even force students to buy a separate book if they want the answers to problems in their textbook.