The way that college bookstores used to function in the past (the “good ol’ days here being earlier 1990′s”) is not the way that they function today. It used to be that the bookstore was owned and operated by the university or college, and had the interest of the students and the institution as its primary concern. The bookstore still made a profit, but this money stayed in campus and was used to benefit the students (this profit would cover a portion of tuition/fees). At some point there began a trend where the university would lease the bookstore out to a private company, essentially the university would off-shore the bookstore. The bookstore would no longer be operated as a part of the school. This trend has continued until today, when most of the university bookstores are now owned and operated by a few private companies. These companies have been able to jack up prices on textbooks, as well as everything else sold in the bookstore, and increase profits, profits which, instead of going back into the school now go only to the company (and its shareholders when it applies).

Another less often talked about feature of the “friendly university bookstore” is that these stores operate in collusion with the school’s financial aid office. Schools have set up a system where a portion of the financial aid money (loans) received by students is put on the student ID, and this ID can then be used as a credit card at the bookstore. This was originally put in place to prevent students from spending their loan money on something else than tuition, fees or other school related material. This simplification allows student loans to go directly from the bank to a private company, most often than not the corporation that owns the bookstore. Students are only allowed to use their loan money at the bookstore, which never offers the best prices. If students want to purchase books at a venue other than the bookstore, say at Amazon, they must use their own money or credit cards.

The other option that the school financial aid office gives students is the option to receive a portion of their financial aid money as a check (money that is left over after tuition is paid). This option is seen as an alternative, giving students the freedom to buy their books anywhere they want, but the fact is that this option is very time consuming, it takes months to receive the check, and the process involves much paperwork. When I was a student, not too long ago, I attempted to exercise this option on multiple occasions, and every semester that I did this I was required to spend hours at the financial aid office, making sure that I would receive my loan money, and every time that I asked for my money as a check it took until half of the semester for me to receive my money. Needless to say, the time to buy textbooks had come and gone by that time. Had I wanted the money put directly on my student ID, I could have spent it at the college bookstore immediately. Students who receive financial aid are therefore forced to use the university bookstore, paying substantially more money for the books than they would if they shopped around, and used a book price comparison site.

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.