The typical undergraduate student at UF spends nearly $1,000 every two semesters on textbooks. This is not earth-shattering news if you are a student. It is no surprise that textbooks are expensive, and these prices continue to soar. In fact, the Government Accountability Office estimates that over the past two decades, college textbook prices have grown at twice the rate of inflation. With recent legislation to raise tuition and narrow the scope of Bright Futures in Florida, university students and families have an even greater burden to bear. It’s evident that the last thing students need is exorbitantly priced textbooks. To help lower the cost of textbook prices, I suggest we implement a textbook rental program.
Textbook rental programs are not a new idea and have garnered attention elsewhere. Universities all over the country have initiated textbook rental programs to save their students money. In North Carolina, Appalachian State University has offered a textbook rental program since 1938. Not only have these programs existed and been met with success, but the federal government has granted money specifically to fund pilot textbook rental programs. The 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act included $10 million in grants to support pilot programs, and according to Charles Schmidt of the National Association of College Stores, more than 20 college bookstores have already applied for grants. UF is not on that list.
Starting a rental program at UF is crucial to reducing the cost of textbooks for the students here. Not only does this solution give students a new and improved option, but it gives both publishers and textbook authors a way to continue to profit from their books after the first sale, something that is lost in the sale of used textbooks.
This year, the University of North Florida and Florida State University bookstores participated in a pilot program for textbook rentals launched by Follett Higher Education Group (the same publishing company UF uses). So the question remains: Why is UF not launching a pilot rental program if the same publishing company manages our bookstore? Well, this is the $65,000 question. There is no reason UF should be left out.
Not only is funding provided, but positive feedback from other colleges clearly demonstrates that these programs lower costs for students dramatically. Many Florida university bookstores advertised the ability to rent a textbook at about 55 percent less than the retail price. These reduced costs, coupled with the federal government’s allocation of $10 million, clearly show the feasibility of these rental programs.
All readers should be informed that state and federal legislation not only legally allow UF to implement a textbook rental program, but also encourages UF to do so. This is explicitly stated in the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, and UF adopted regulation 8.003, which calls upon the university to act to improve textbook affordability.
If UF blithely accepts federal money for efforts such as construction projects, then it should have no problem accepting federal money for a pilot textbook rental program. Many argue that as UF students, we attend the “very best” university in Florida and thus deserve the very best services from our institution. Why should other schools benefit from rental programs and not UF? A change in UF textbook policy is overdue.
According to assistant director of UF Business Services Division Jerry Merriwether, “Currently there are no plans on setting up a rental textbook program at UF.” In a parallel fashion, Student Government has suggested that UF would rather “recycle textbooks” (i.e. sell your textbook at one-sixth of the cost you bought it for). But this solution is the same as selling and buying used textbooks. We need a new solution.
Students need to act now. We need to let the Board of Governors and UF Academic Affairs know that we deserve equal opportunity to reasonably priced textbooks. Publishing companies should not over-profit off our necessity for textbooks in the classroom. Fundamental necessities should never be taken advantage of. If we do not act now, we are only hurting ourselves.
The $55 a student could save by renting a $100 calculus book rather than buying it is vital for a student during tough economic times. If FSU can enact such change, UF can too. We are currently writing a Student Senate bill on this topic; we encourage you to join the many voices advocating for a textbook rental program.
Kristin Klein is a UF political science junior.
