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Issue date: 9/23/05 Section: Opinions

Well, it's back to school time for millions
of college students across the country.
It's a tough time for many, having to give
up sleeping till noon, slacking around with
friends, and that in-house laundry service
otherwise known as mom. But then again,
many students don't give that stuff up even
when school starts. I don't.

Besides the pains of moving into your
dorm or adjusting to a new schedule, there
seems to be one pain that seems to overwhelm
the rest: paying for textbooks.

I had to pay $378 for my textbooks for
* ve classes. That's not too bad. In the spring
semester it was closer to $650 for only four
classes. I heard some stories of caseloads of
books costing upwards of $1,000 or more.

Somebody's making some big bucks off
of all this. Well, it's not the bookstore. It's
not the Lewis University administration.
No, no, no.

According to a study conducted by
the State Public Interest Research Groups
(PIRGs) in Washington D.C. entitled "Ripoff
101" (great name, I must say), it's the
book publishing industry that's making all
the moolah. And they're laughing all the
way to the bank.

There were four key * ndings of the
survey. First, textbook prices are increasing
at a fast rate. I know, I know, it's an obvious
point, but listen to all the details. First,
textbook prices are increasing at more than
four times the rate of in* ation.. Four times
the rate of in* ation!

According to the study, "the wholesale
prices charged by textbook publishers have
jumped 62 percent since 1994, while prices
charged for all
finished goods
increased only
1 4 p e r c e n t . "
C o m b i n e a l l
that with the increasing
cost of
tuition and governmental
cutbacks
in higher
e d u c a t i o n a l
funding, and the
students can kiss
their good * nancial
credit and
savings accounts goodbye.

What exactly has driven the prices of
college textbooks up so high in the past 11
years? Who knows, the survey doesn't say.
Price gouging, perhaps?

Second, the study stated that the book
publishing industry publishes too many
"new editions" to their textbooks, thereby
eliminating much of the market for cheaper
used books. Here's a funny story. When I
was taking College Writing I and II at Joliet
Junior College, I was forced to buy two copies
of the Holt Handbook for each class, the

Continued...

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