Increasing textbook prices have caused the College Board to seek possible solutions to the nationwide problem. According to the Government Accountability Office, college textbook prices have doubled, nearly the rate of annual inflation. To address the growing problem of high textbook costs at Mississippi colleges, the College Board created the Textbook Task Force. The task force is composed of representatives from the eight Mississippi colleges, which fall under the Board’s authority. Mississippi State University Provost Peter Rabideau and assistant vice president for student affairs Bill Broyles are two of MSU’s task force representatives.
In a report issued in the summer of 2007 by the Textbook Task Force, many key issues were listed as being associated with the rising price of textbooks. One of the main issues included the timing of textbook selections and purchases.
Barnes & Noble manager Bobby Hamous and Student Association President Braxton Coombs have collaborated in a way to show the importance of timely book orders.
“The bookstore’s and students’ goals are the same,” Hamous said. “An increase in book orders from faculty has a direct relationship on the amount of money students get back. This results in immediate cash for students.”
Coombs said publicizing this effort was one way to help make a difference. He sent out a letter to the MSU faculty encouraging them to begin promptly turning in book orders.
“There is nothing that can be done to force teachers to turn in their stuff, but we are just going to address the issue,” Coombs said. “In turning in their book orders on time, that lowers the cost of textbook prices for us by allowing us to purchase more used books.”
On March 19, the date set by the bookstore for book orders, only 17 percent of teachers had turned in their book orders, Coombs said. After the letter was sent out, more teachers began submitting their materials.
“Today, we have 45 percent of teachers who have turned in their course materials,” he said. “Our goal is to increase that to 80 percent. It is one of our jobs to educate faculty on the importance of turning in their book adoptions early,” he said.
According to statistics collected by Barnes & Noble, last year only 32 percent of faculty turned in their orders at this time.
Vice president for student affairs Bill Kibler said faculty need to know the importance of timely book orders.
“There are going to be some good reasons and some not so good reasons for not turning in book orders on time,” he said. “The faculty needs to know the impact of getting its book orders on time and should know the impact of bundling.”
University Provost Peter Rabideau said many factors exist that cause faculty to turn book orders in late.
“There are more issues than teachers turning book requests,” he said. “Sometimes teachers may not know what subject they will teach.”
If a faculty member was not assigned to teach a class, then the department should use its best judgment to determine which book the class would require, Kibler said.
“The greatest likelihood to create some accountability of this would rest with academic department heads,” Kibler said.
Despite the complications associated with textbook prices, Kibler said rising textbook prices will always be on students’ minds.
“Anything to stop the rising prices of textbooks is good for students,” he said.
Another factor listed as a contributor to rising textbook prices in the task force’s findings is the custom tailoring of texts for specific classes.
Rabideau said new books should be published based upon the changeable nature of the field.
“There is a concern in some cases where a new edition is published but not really needed,” he said. “The frequency of books [being published] should be based upon the variation of the field.”
Bookmart Corp. president Joseph Brown said customizing books was one of the trends he has noticed in textbook publication.
“Teachers are using customized books that are tailored for their class,” he said. “If teachers change that book, then there is no marketability for that textbook,” Brown said.