Why are College Textbooks So Expensive? Textbooks have been steadily increasing their prices and it has many students and parents upset. The current prices have gotten to a point where some students would rather not even purchase the textbook. Programs have been put into place by schools like allowing the books to be rented out. But with publishers putting out new editions every few years these programs seem obsolete. It isn’t uncommon for books to be priced around two-hundred dollars. Some textbooks have reached a price of around four-hundred dollars. “In 2015, the average student will spend more than $1,000 on textbooks – an 812% increase over the previous generation. Textbook costs are rapidly increasing overall student debt, with 70% of college students now saying they will not purchase one or more required textbooks due to cost concerns,” (ATTN 2015). But why are prices so high? The reasons can be broken down into three parts: money for publishers and university bookstores, constant new editions being released and lack of competition on the textbook market. …show more content…
“According to the National Association of College Stores, more than 77 cents of every dollar spent on textbooks go to publishers,” (ATTN 2015). This means publishers like Hachette Book Group or HarperCollins are earning a huge percentage of their money back from textbooks. One of the only ways to knock down the price on a textbook would be to buy it used. Not only does the price go down if the textbook is bought used, but it also puts pressure on the publisher to lower their prices since less of the new textbooks they are putting out are being purchased. Textbook prices are soaring at any level of post-high school education whether it be a community college or university, but why are publishers doing