Well I guess I ought to comment on the recent election, after all, this is a blog, and most blogs provide at least some form of political commentary. I certainly do not want this to be the only blog on the planet that isn’t commenting on what some say is the most election important election of the century.
Anyway, I am under the age of 30, and I reside in the northeast, given that my political leanings should be clear. Additionally, I will say I am happy with the outcome of this election. But aside from my personal political leanings I am very concerned with the affordability of higher education. For all intensive purposes our university system is broken, and I am hoping that it will be fixed during the next four years, or that at least a process to fix it will begin. Public universities should again be made affordable and accessible to the public, and elite universities should continue their trend of increased funding for students that cannot afford to pay $50,000 a year for college.
My concern though is with a narrow part of the higher education system, textbooks. I am in no way advocating for free or subsidized textbooks – although if it ever occurred it would be great news for all students – but the concept of open source textbooks intrigues me greatly. What I am advocating for is for the free market to be allowed to do its job. Textbooks are expensive; they (supposedly) have a high cost of production and distribution. Additionally professors who choose to write such books ought to be properly rewarded. What bugs me is that university bookstores today survive on the quashing of the free market in textbooks. I would go so far as to argue that often there is collusion between university bookstores and professors in said universities. Bookstores require professors to submit a required reading list for each class, these lists are kept private from students, and the bookstores often wait until the last minute, the first week of class, to display these textbooks in the store. Students who want to save money by purchasing books online are left with few options, seeing as how most college classes assign reading from the textbooks on day one of class.
So here my two cents on fixing this whole textbook issue, and my recommendation to the new administration. There needs to be greater transparency in the textbook market. Students need to be given the option of where to buy their books, and they need to be told in advance what these books are so that they have proper time to buy them in places other than the university bookstore. I would suggest requiring professors to submit their required reading list to the university website, to a page that is accessible both to the university bookstore and to students, as well as making the university responsible for informing students of their options when it comes to buying books. Such a free market strategy would force the university bookstore to be more competitive, and would act to lower the prices of textbooks across the board, while maintaining adequate profits for all parties involved in the market.
As a sidenote, I am very happy to receive comments from the readers of this blog, and from the fans of my textbook prices comparison site. If you wish to write me a note, please send me an email, and I promise I will try to respond quickly.
