Business Plan to Reduce Textbook Costs at Ndsu
December 12, 2006
PROPOSAL TO REDUCE THE COST OF COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS
By
Christa Lavey
Today more than ever it is critical for America 's young generations to attend college and receive a degree in order to be successful. However, rising prices in tuition and other expenses have put substantial financial strain on parents trying to pay for the constantly increasing costs of college. It puts even more strain on students who will be forced to pay back enormous student loans once they graduate. One of the added expenses that a student will face is that of college textbooks.
To provide all students with an equal opportunity to utilize the material required for their classes, I propose to develop a way to reduce the cost of books for college students on our campus. This proposal involves using the most cost conscience methods to provide students with suitable textbooks, increasing faculty awareness of costs, and increasing communication between students, teachers, and bookstores. Causes of High Present Costs
The cost of college textbooks comes as an unwelcome and financially painful surprise to college students and their parents. The cost of books has increased by nearly $200.00 per year over the past five years, more than four times the rate of inflation. At four year universities a student will spend an average of $853.00 on texts alone in one year, approximately a quarter most students ' total tuition costs (1). The high prices of new texts and frustration of not being able to sell books back at the end of the semester has lead many students to simply not purchase them to begin with.
Since the profit margin on college books for most university bookstores has not increased at nearly the rate of the price increase, it appears reasonable that the problems lie elsewhere. Most of the blame for the rising price of college textbooks can be placed on the practices of many of the books ' publishing companies. Today nearly 50% of all college course
PROPOSAL TO REDUCE THE COST OF COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS
By
Christa Lavey
Today more than ever it is critical for America 's young generations to attend college and receive a degree in order to be successful. However, rising prices in tuition and other expenses have put substantial financial strain on parents trying to pay for the constantly increasing costs of college. It puts even more strain on students who will be forced to pay back enormous student loans once they graduate. One of the added expenses that a student will face is that of college textbooks.
To provide all students with an equal opportunity to utilize the material required for their classes, I propose to develop a way to reduce the cost of books for college students on our campus. This proposal involves using the most cost conscience methods to provide students with suitable textbooks, increasing faculty awareness of costs, and increasing communication between students, teachers, and bookstores. Causes of High Present Costs
The cost of college textbooks comes as an unwelcome and financially painful surprise to college students and their parents. The cost of books has increased by nearly $200.00 per year over the past five years, more than four times the rate of inflation. At four year universities a student will spend an average of $853.00 on texts alone in one year, approximately a quarter most students ' total tuition costs (1). The high prices of new texts and frustration of not being able to sell books back at the end of the semester has lead many students to simply not purchase them to begin with.
Since the profit margin on college books for most university bookstores has not increased at nearly the rate of the price increase, it appears reasonable that the problems lie elsewhere. Most of the blame for the rising price of college textbooks can be placed on the practices of many of the books ' publishing companies. Today nearly 50% of all college course
Bibliography: 1 American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Lifting the Weight of College Textbook Costs. Retrieved November 25, 2006, from http://www.aascu.org/policy_matters/pdf/v2n3.pdf, 2 California Public Interest Research Group. Rip-Off 101: How the Current Practices of the Textbook Industry Drive Up the Cost of College Textbooks. Retrieved November 25, 2006, from http://calpirg.org/reports/textbookripoff.pdf. 3 Government Accountability Office. College Textbooks. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org/gao_report.pdf. 4 Hayes, Christopher. Campus Progress: Cooking the Books. Retrieved November 30, 2006, from http://campusprogress.org/features/235/cooking-the-books