Textbook expenses to take a turn for the cheaper

By Elliot Njus

Published April 8, 2008

A bill that aims to lower the cost of textbooks passed unanimously in the Missouri House last Wednesday.

The bill would require publishers to disclose textbook prices to instructors so they could shop around.

It would also require that publishers disclose differences between editions and the formats in which the text is available.

Rep. Jake Zimmerman, D-Olivette, said that he is hopeful that with the same level of support from students and other supporters, the bill will be successful in the Senate.

“I look forward to supporting a good bill that comes out of the Senate,” he said.

He said he expects the push to pass the bill in the Senate to be a bipartisan effort and that a Republican would sponsor the bill in the Senate.

The bill was a priority for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, a group that lobbies for UM system students.

ASUM Legislative Director Craig Stevenson said it was exciting to see the bill pass the House by such a wide margin.

“It’s not very often that a bill is first proposed and passed in that first year,” he said.

Stevenson said he’s optimistic the bill will be passed after the Senate finalizes the state budget.

“The key now is going to be, will we have enough time?” he said.

Zimmerman said he had heard reports that there could be an effort to make the bill tougher in the Senate but that such an effort could delay passing the bill.

“To be honest, I’d probably be happier if it stays the way it is,” he said.

Stevenson said ASUM would support a change to strengthen the bill by requiring textbook manufacturers to disclose the suggested retail price instead of the wholesale price.

The bill would also require that textbooks and supplemental material bundled together also be made available separately, but distinguishes between “supplemental” material and “integrated” material.

The distinction was ironed out in a conference call between Zimmerman and textbook publishers just before the House Higher Education Committee approved the bill.

Integrated material would include third-party products that must be contractually bundled and materials that are designed be used together. It would be unusable to a student if separated.

“The bookstore would prefer to do everything unbundled,” Student and Auxiliary Services spokeswoman Michelle Froese said.

Froese said instructors choose textbooks one of two ways.

Some meet with textbook publisher representatives who pitch textbooks, and others do their own research online, she said.

The responsibility to disclose prices would fall to the publisher representatives, she said.

“The bookstore is the middleman, in that faculty choose their own textbooks,” she said.

Froese said making more information available would help faculty members in making their decision.

“Often, the faculty don’t know the list prices,” she said. “I think the edition history would be particularly helpful.”

Textbook representatives will often target larger classes in order to sell the most books, Froese said, so many of the textbook bundles are assigned in those classes.

But, Froese said, the bookstore works with professors to keep prices low. She said that they try to make sure professors turn in book orders early so the bookstore can buy books back.

The bill would also require universities to develop a plan that would allow students to spend unused financial aid on textbooks.

MU Financial Aid Director Joe Camille said that system is already in place at MU.

“If a student is eligible for financial aid, the federal government says they’re supposed to get all of it,” he said.

When an MU student receives financial aid, he said, it’s applied to their student account.

That goes to first pay tuition and fees, then any other charges to the student’s account, including textbooks.

“It’s supposed to pay off any university charges, and then the rest goes back to the students,” Camille said.