By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006; B01
RICHMOND, March 8 -- The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill to lower the cost of textbooks for college students.
The measure would require public universities to come up with guidelines encouraging professors and bookstores to slow costs, which studies have shown are rising more rapidly than inflation or tuition.
Students say textbooks are growing more expensive because manufacturers are packaging the books with an array of supplements and CDs. Textbook manufacturers and some professors say prices are rising because the quality of books and supplements is better than ever.
Prodded by Virginia21, an advocacy group for 18- to 24-year-olds, the legislature has sided with students. The House and Senate approved HB 1478, sponsored by G. Glenn Oder (R-Newport News), which requires public universities to adopt new textbook guidelines.
Kevin Hall, press secretary for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), said the governor wants to review the bill but is "generally supportive of an effort to make textbooks more affordable for students."
The new guidelines would encourage professors to limit their use of new editions of books when previous editions don't differ much. Students complain that textbook companies make minor changes to books and reissue them every few years to quash the used book market.
The guidelines would also require professors to acknowledge that they are aware of the cost of the books they assign. If faculty members do not plan to use supplements such as workbooks that are sold with texts, college bookstores would order the books and other materials separately, if cost-effective.
Students say they often encounter professors who assign books without realizing they cost more than $100 each.
"I'm paying half my tuition for books," said Pamela Ononiwu, 21, president of the student government at Northern Virginia Community College's Annandale campus. "It's an issue that needs to be addressed."
After two semesters of spending $500 on sometimes lightly used textbooks, Ononiwu said she tried something new to keep costs down this year.
She didn't buy the book for her math class. Instead, she spent weeks sharing the required text with a friend. "It was hard," Ononiwu said. "She would have a test, and I wouldn't. I would need it for homework. Of course, her test would override my using it for homework."
According to a study conducted last year by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, which included a survey of 12,000 students, a semester's worth of books averaged between $300 and $400 in fall 2005.
A national study by Congress's Government Accountability Office published last summer found that book prices are rising faster than inflation or tuition. The study, which pinned rising prices to innovations in books and supplements, suggested that the cost to students is rarely considered when prices are set.
J. Bruce Hildebrand, higher education director for the Association of American Publishers, said there is a good reason textbook prices are rising: Responding to demand from professors, books have become vastly better than they once were. Now, many books come with an array of Web support sites, CDs with extra problem sets and tutorials, training for teachers, and extra reading and workbooks.
"What they're comparing is buggy whips to rockets, and they don't account for the changes in technology," he said. "We are constantly being pressured to develop tools to help professors prepare a diverse student body that is arriving in many classes not ready for college."
Those supplementary materials are the most upsetting part to many students. Professors often assign them as optional work, they say, but buying books without the extras is sometimes impossible.
Robert Andrews, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and past president of the Faculty Senate of Virginia, said that although some professors do not look at prices or what comes in the bundles they have ordered, most know what they have asked students to buy.
"When you clearly articulate that you're going to use the textbook, students still try to get by and not buy it," he said.
He said he is bothered that the bill would encourage teachers not to use new editions. That could give professors an excuse to stick with texts because they are comfortable with them instead of moving to better, newer books.
"I don't think books are that expensive," Andrews said. "Is this an issue that strikes a chord with students? Yes. . . . At the same time, look at the cost and look at the quality of the textbooks. I still think we get value for our money."
Dale Van Wagner, 22, president of the student body at George Mason University, acknowledges that he stopped visiting the campus bookstore two years ago. Instead, he waits as long as possible to see whether a book will be useful and then searches online for the lowest price. Wagner, who is putting himself through school, said his costs dropped a lot.
"I just don't understand how $400 a semester for books should be considered an appropriate additional cost for an education you're already paying for," he said.
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