New policies to lower textbook prices are currently under deliberation by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.
Thursday in Jackson, a textbook task force made up of representatives from each of the eight Mississippi universities, proposed a set of policies to the IHL in hopes of lowering textbook prices for students. Representatives from Mississippi State University have been involved in the planning of the proposal since October.
Student Association President Blake Jeter said everything went well at Thursday’s proposal to the IHL.
“All the feedback we got today was great,” he said. “It was something the student government has wanted at Mississippi State since we got in office last year.”
The proposal would lower textbook prices by providing mandatory adoption deadlines, or the date at which a professor must state the book they will be using for the course. There will be minimum adoption periods, or how long a particular course will have the same book. Additionally, institutions must provide information to students and faculty on textbooks like tips on purchasing and whether or not a book is available in an electronic format.
Jeter said the mandatory adoption deadline will be set before the textbook buy back period so students will know if a book is adopted for the next semester.
“It really enhances the ability for students to get money back during the buy back period,” Jeter said. “It really enhances their ability to plan for what books are going to be out there and you can pick from a much higher density of used books than new books.”
Jeter said students can also buy the books online if they want and know that book will not change. Jeter also said if the professor does not turn adoption in on time, the department head will pick the books for them.
Junior general liberal arts major Sarah Fisk said she has saved money by comparing prices of different sources online. However, she does not always have the books she needs on time because she does not have enough notice about the books being used for her classes.
“I am actually waiting on one now, and I really need it for class, but it’s impossible to buy all your books before class starts because then you usually end up taking some back anyway, because you don’t really need them,” she said. “It is just a hassle.”
Fisk said she gets tired of paying such an outrageous amount of money for books and thinks it is ridiculous the bookstores do not give students much money for selling books back.
“Last semester the bookstore that wanted me to pay $150 for a book wouldn’t take any of those books back when I tried to sell it back because they got a new edition,” Fisk said. “It was ridiculous because I paid so much for that book.”
As far as the minimal adoption period, Jeter said the period is different for lower and higher level classed.
“Professors will have to keep lower level textbooks for three years [six semesters] and high level textbook for a full two years [four semesters],” Jeter said.
Assistant vice president for student affairs Bill Broyles, who co-chaired the IHL textbook taskforce, said there is some concern when there is a minimum three year adoption. The biggest concern is the body of knowledge is changing and students will not be getting the latest data.
“That’s why we put into the policy where the dean of the college can make an exception to that minimum adoption period,” Broyles said. “But, if you are looking at something like Roman history, the chance of that body of knowledge changing in the next three years is pretty remote.”
Broyles said this is the reason for different adoption periods for upper and lower division.
“The body of knowledge changes the most usually in upper division classes,” he said.
Part of the new policy is “assessment of progress” and Broyles said the IHL has recommended every school have a textbook coordinator who will assess the progress of the policies. To gauge the success of the policies, the school will add some basic questions to the course’s evaluation students do every year.
“One, was the text that’s required for the course used? Two, was the text that was required for the course useful?” Broyles said.
The information will then be published so students will know if the text was actually used and useful to the course.
Broyles also said the 20 highest volume courses at MSU will be monitored to track the overall text cost for the course over time, to see if the policies are actually successful in reducing the cost of text.
“We came up with a good idea and what we think is going to make a difference, but we have to go back and assess, did we really make a difference?” Broyles said.
Jeter said when proposing a policy change to the IHL, there has to be a 30-day notice before new policies that are to be implemented may be voted upon.
“What they did today [Thursday] was have the first reading of the policy and some discussion,” Jeter said. “Then it will be on the agenda for final vote Feb. 18.”
Jeter said he is confident the bill will pass.
“After passed, the majority of the proposal changes will be implemented immediately,” Jeter said. “The target for changes is before summer time, and students should really start seeing the effects in the fall.”
Fisk said it is good the student government teamed up with the IHL.
“It shows they actually care,” Fisk said.
Broyles said what the taskforce tried to do was determine what was the best and quickest way they could successfully reduce the cost of textbooks to students.
“I think that we have absolutely hit the nail on the head,” he said.
Broyles said the task force hopes just as soon as the board adopts the policy, the universities will then go in and adopt their own individual policies at their schools so this summer and fall students will start realizing these changes.
“With the board level policy that says you have to do it, I believe that we will get to put the best practices into place and I think that we are going to make a difference,” Broyles said.