Professors’ perspectives on textbook cost 

Textbook purchases cost, on average, nearly $200 per student each year, placing a financial burden on already cash-strapped college students. The Michigan Daily spoke with University of Michigan faculty to discuss the importance of textbooks, how faculty can assign lower-cost course materials as an alternative and what roadblocks limit student access to textbooks.

In an interview with The Daily, communication and media professor Sonya Dal Cin said she is aware of the burden of textbook prices and tries her best to find lower-cost alternatives for her students. However, Dal Cin explained that textbooks provide professors and students with necessary classroom resources, justifying the higher cost.

“There are instructor resources that come with textbooks,” Dal Cin said. “There are slides for presentations, suggested classroom activities, exam test banks. Oftentimes, the less expensive options don’t have those things or they are limited.”

Dal Cin also told The Daily that because faculty have the freedom to design the course syllabus, they play a large role in how much a student will pay for course materials. Dal Cin also said faculty must keep the difference in socioeconomic status of their students in mind to ensure a fair and equitable learning environment.

“Textbook cost is something that students are concerned about, and one of the ways in which we promote and foster equity and inclusion is by being mindful of those costs and the fact that students differ in their position or ability,” Dal Cin said.

Electronic Resources Officer Kathleen Folger told The Daily that despite the burden of textbook prices, students should not pirate — or illegally download without patent or copyright permission — textbooks because of the computer safety risk.

“There are definitely downsides to pirating, especially if you’re downloading a textbook from a pirate site,” Folger said. “You don’t know what else you’re downloading. It might not just be the text of the textbook; it could be malicious software.”

Folger also explained that textbook publishers often make it difficult for libraries to buy and share their content. Folger said she believes this keeps textbooks inaccessible because publishers can sell directly to students at a higher price.

“They’re starting to use tactics to make the print version unappealing to libraries,” Folger said. “Rather than selling a bound copy of the book, they will only make it available as loose-leaf or spiral-bound, which is terrible when you have many students trying to use the same item. Publishers are aware that libraries are a way for students to get access to the content without having to pay for it, and they’re trying to close off that avenue for students.” 

Raven Lanier, senior copyright policy specialist at the Center for Academic Innovation, said in an interview with The Daily that publishers charge additional costs for other resources within textbooks. Lanier said this makes resources inaccessible for students.

“A lot of textbooks have these proprietary homework platforms that are attached to them, so even if you were able to get your textbook through a reduced cost, you still would have to pay for access to the platform or you couldn’t complete the course work,” Lanier said. 

Lanier is also the lead for the Open Educational Resources Working Group, which is a collection of educational resources at the University that combines multiple U-M centers to increase access to textbooks. Lanier said the OER Working Group is trying to raise awareness around campus about textbook costs and is collecting anecdotes from students about how they have been impacted by high-cost course material. These anecdotes will be anonymously shared with administrators, donors and faculty to urge for more support of low and no-cost textbooks on campus.

“I’ve heard and seen stories of students who are choosing between eating and getting their textbook,” Folger said. “Students who have gone without the textbook for weeks and weeks because they couldn’t afford to get it at the start of the semester.” 

Daily Staff Reporters Delilah Dakis and Elizabeth Foley can be reached at delilahd@umich.edu and elfoley@umich.edu.

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