The Cost of College Textbooks Continues to Rise

Textbooks can be one of the costliest parts of attending college and it’s only getting more expensive.

According to a report from the United States Public Interest Research Group, textbook prices have increased 73% since 2006. The average student pays over $300 per semester for books.

Two North Carolina schools offer textbooks through two fairly different systems. At Appalachian State, students get their textbooks through a rental program. Lorraine Childers is the director of the bookstore at Appalachian State.

“Because App State had this rental program we felt like we were ahead of the game. There are many universities that are implementing different rental models into their business model as well, but it’ unusual to have a program as comprehensive as ours,” said Childers.

At Appalachian State, students pay $135 dollars a semester in fees for the rental textbook program.

At UNC, students buy most of their books upfront. Kelly Hanner, who manages course materials at the UNC Student Stores, says a rental textbook program can be restrictive to faculty.

“The faculty member’s academic freedom to select their own course materials, with the App State model the faculty members are locked into a particular book for X amount of semesters,” said Hanner.

A book must be in use for two years at Appalachian to be part of the textbook rental program.

UNC does offer a rental book program but, according to Hanner, only about 6% of students at UNC rent their books.

More popular is UNC’s guarantee buy back program. Jim Powell, the interim director of the Student Stores, said it is almost as cost effective as a rental program.

“We can post it on the book that if you buy this book then at the end of the semester we guarantee we’ll buy it back, guaranteed, at a very high price. So it really works out about the same as the money that would outlay for rentals,” said Powell.

But according to Childers, Appalachian State starts to make a profit on renting a textbook after about one year of use. It takes UNC almost two years to pay back a rental book.

“So we feel like we really get a lot of bang for our buck from beginning to end,” said Childers.

But a solution that might incorporate academic freedom and cost are digital textbooks. Hanner said it’s the most affordable option but so far they haven’t been embraced by students or professors.

“It’s probably going to take a while to get off the ground because, again, digital is just not embraced at this point in academia,” said Hanner.

Childers said there has been a similar response to digital books at Appalachian State. It seems like students and facility still favor having those hard copies, even if it comes at a price.

The Cost of College Textbooks Continues to Rise

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