I believe it's time to revisit the recommendations made by the auditor. The report is as relevant now as it has ever been, with students and families struggling to reduce the cost of a college education. The cost of textbooks found by the auditor would most likely be seen as a bargain by today's students, given the fact that textbook costs continue to skyrocket out of control.
Community college students pay more for their textbooks than they do for course fees, with almost 60% of their total education costs going to textbooks. A full-time student can expect to spend, on average, between $692 and $905 simply to buy the books needed for their courses. Many students are faced with a delayed graduation because they have to take fewer courses in order to be able to afford their textbooks.
Students can buy used books through a campus bookstore or from online retailers, but the availability of used books isn't doing enough to help ease the burden. Frequent textbook revisions all but kill the market for a used textbook and force students to purchase new books at a far greater cost. Some revisions are necessary and understandable, but oftentimes, changes are made simply to drive up sales of new books.
One bright spot on the horizon is the growing segment of the market in e-books, reducing textbook costs through electronic content delivery. Even more promising is the effort to promote the use of "open source" textbooks, e-books that use freely licensed material to deliver free or minimally priced books that a faculty member can easily customize to suit the needs of an individual course.
