The increase in the price of textbooks is not simply due to inflation, there are many more other reasons such as the bundle of online materials. Is it acceptable? Or is it inevitable? In this article, I’ll explain why students and teachers have to endure the high price, and what we could do to overcome the inefficiency and to fulfill the course requirement.
Inflation is not the only reason for the increase in the price of textbooks. The increase is much higher than inflation, because students are buying different products. Nowadays, buying a textbook means buying a book, access to online materials as well as a formula table. Students are definitely getting more, even something they don’t need. However, in some units of study, the textbook is a must so that they are forced to spend the money without a decision-making process, which allows presses to bundle unnecessary learning materials in order to set a higher price. Moreover, authors have become increasingly treasure their own intellectual property such as copyright. Presses are paying more to authors and context (sources). As a result, books containing more intellectual properties would be charging more than those aren’t.
Nonetheless, students shouldn’t be paying for this reasonable increase in price, because it is not inevitable or efficient for their study. There are several things to do to reduce the influence of high price. First of all, teachers could be more prudent when selecting textbooks. If the textbook is only used for additional reading, it would be efficient for students to buy second-hand or digital copies to skim. Secondly, students should be able to use modern learning tools including social media, digital books, and study communities to counteract the cost of textbooks. These new sources would compress the profit space of traditional presses. I think it is a process of education that allows all parties in this economic behavior to find an equilibrium point, which makes them better off. In addition, sharing economy is also a good spark to inspire students to be beneficial from group study by sharing expensive textbooks and its accessorial digital materials and tables.
In summary, I think the increasing attention to intellectual property and accessorial materials (both digital and non-digital) are main factors that cause the price to rise. But accompany by using modern learning materials and channels, students are less likely to be influenced by the unaffordable price setting of textbooks.