Why Do Textbooks Increase Inflation Rate?

Background

Throughout the years, college students have faced the difficulty of not being able to afford their education. More recently, inflation has caused a college education to become even more of a financial burden (Wadsworth, 2014).

Textbooks began costing more than other goods in the early 90’s, but the costs remained relatively stable. Around the turn of the century, the prices increased dramatically (Stephens, n.d.). With the price of tuition increasing and other obstacles faced by college students, the added price of textbooks is overwhelming and can cause unwanted stress.

Not only do college students pay for college tuition, but they also have to worry about rent, food, and other miscellaneous items required to maintain

What has been causing the rate of textbook costs to increase over the past decade?

Even though this graph is focused on college education in general, it gives an accurate representation of the increasing cost of college education. Much of the problem with the increase in education has to do with higher costs of fuel and labor (Wadsworth, 2014).

Another reason college education and textbook costs have increased is due to the amount of federal funding to students. When the government began giving out more money to students for tuition, these colleges and universities saw it as a good time to raise tuition prices (Why, n.d.).

Publishers Hold a Monopoly Over Textbooks

By looking closely at how publishing companies operate, it has been shown that these companies make unnecessary changes to textbooks and raise the cost to gain a better profit. By making new editions and advertising to professors with unnecessary additions, publishers always find ways to make more money, even if that means putting students in

By having students pay a one-time fee, they could then rent out textbooks for the semester and return them when their classes finished (Gore, 2005).

Changing the way Professors Choose Textbooks

To help eliminate the monopoly over textbooks, professors can be aware of the textbooks they are choosing to use in their classes. Most often, textbook publishers get away with adding supplemental information to their textbooks that make them more expensive (Gore, 2005).

In a survey conducted by CalPIRG, they found that 65% of university faculty and professors do not use the extra information when they buy textbooks (2004). If a professor chooses not to buy textbooks in which he or she will not use completely, they would be saving students money by not requiring useless parts (2004).

Another way professors can help students avoid buying new textbooks is to be aware of a textbook’s newest editions and what the actual changes are (Gore, 2005). By choosing not to buy new books every semester that have little to no changes, professors are not only defying the monopoly on textbooks, they are also helping students save money when it comes to buying textbooks.