ASCSU heads campaign to reduce textbook cost
AARON HEDGE
Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: News
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As a part of a statewide initiative among accredited four-year institutions and the Associated Students of Colorado (ASC), the Associated Students of CSU is lobbying to do away with loopholes in state law that allow publishers to charge more for books.
The letters will be sent to Sen. Steve Johnson (D-Fort Collins), organizers said.
The current textbook market in Colorado is shady, said an ASC representative. Publishers often hold textbook prices from professors, so they don't know how much their students will be paying when they order curriculum.
"It's a broken market," said Blake Gibson, chairman of CSU's chapter of ASC. "The consumers don't have the normal sway."
There are several other factors that keep textbook prices high.
One is "bundling," a term that refers to books that are packaged with CDs and other learning supplements. On average, bundling makes the average textbook 20 percent more expensive, said Dan Palmer, textbook efforts coordinator for ASCSU.
One initiative of the program is to require that learning supplements are sold seperately.
Another problem is that successive book editions are published every one to three years. Gibson said that with some subjects this is unnecessary. It would be much more efficient to print new editions every seven years.
"When was the last time calculus changed?" Gibson said.
Also, no legislation exists preventing publishers from presenting gifts to book stores, Palmer said.
"It is very hard to prove that this goes on, but it is possible," said Gibson.
The goal of the letter writing campaign is to put pressure on lawmakers to do away with these problems through legislation.
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