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  • TEXTBOOK PRICING

    Filed at 6:38 am under by dcobranchi

    Most “solutions” to the problem of high prices for college textbooks amount to little more than economic demagoguery. A Virginia Delegate, though, may actually have a workable idea.

    His proposal, now in the House Education Committee, seeks to prohibit publishers from giving inducements to public-college professors or other employees for requiring students to purchase specific textbooks.

    It also would require colleges to post assigned textbooks on their Web sites as soon as professors decide on them, so students could search elsewhere for books.

    Wow– professors get payola for placing book orders? I never even got a review copy for any class I ever taught.

    A question- why not use the power of bulk purchasing to compel textbook publishers to slow down edition creep? For instance, if you want to sell a calculus text to UVA, you agree that the current edition will remain in print for 5 years. Professors could still choose their texts; they’d just be limited to those publishers who agreed to the rules.

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