UNC says cost of books must fall

GREENVILLE -- Though tuition at North Carolina's public universities keeps climbing, students will get some relief on the high price of textbooks.

On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors required campuses to reduce book costs, which typically add $800 to $1,200 to a UNC system student's annual bill.

By January, for large introductory courses, all campuses must either guarantee they will buy books back at the end of the year or offer book rentals.

Under the new rules, professors have a deadline for picking textbooks, which which would make cheaper, used books more available to students. And from now on, average textbook costs at each campus will be taken into consideration when the UNC board makes its decisions on tuition and fee increases.

Nationally, the cost of textbooks nearly tripled from 1986 to 2004, according to a study by the federal Government Accountability Office. Book prices go up 6 percent a year-- about twice the rate of inflation.

Some faculty members fear the new measures may limit their book choices, but students, board members and UNC President Erskine Bowles hailed the cost-cutting moves.

"Textbook prices are a critical component of the cost of higher education," said Jim Phillips, chairman of the UNC board. "Our actions today have the potential to reduce those costs in a meaningful way."

Derek Pantiel, a student at N.C. Central University and a student board member, said: "We really just set an example for the nation."

The measures follow a year of experimentation by UNC campus bookstores to change the way they do business. In February 2006, the UNC board recommended that campuses study their book operations and try new methods. Some made significant progress, according to a UNC system review.

Among the changes:

* Ten campus-operated stores formed a UNC buyback consortium, which resulted in more cheap used books and a better return for students who sold their books back to stores at the end of the year.

* UNC-Chapel Hill formed a partnership with the N.C. School of the Arts so that the smaller campus could get more purchasing power.

* Faculty members got more of their orders in on time, and Charlotte achieved a 100 percent on-time rate.

* At Fayetteville State University, professors in 60 courses ordered older editions of textbooks or allowed their students to choose between newer or older editions.

* Some campuses allowed students to pre-purchase their books during the state sales tax holiday in August.

It's unclear how much money students would save under the new plan. It would depend on the campus, a student's major and the availability of used books.

Some campuses operate their own bookstores. Others contract with private companies and have less flexibility. Appalachian State, Elizabeth City State and Western Carolina universities have book rental programs that charge students a lower, flat rate.

Rental programs are rare, though, because of high startup costs, book storage problems and limitations on faculty choice. Last year, the National Association of College Stores reported that 1 percent of its members offer book rentals.

Fayetteville State University dropped its rental program in 2003 because of faculty opposition. Faculty at Appalachian State University recommended the university discontinue rentals a couple of years ago, but the popular program remains. Started in 1938, the program provides books for each semester at a cost of $82 a student. Students also spend $50 to $70 on supplemental materials.

Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education for the Association of American Publishers, said professors want added online components because they improve students' academic performance. Those supplemental materials cost money to develop and produce.

The UNC system's policy won't have much effect on publishers, Hildebrand said. "Buyback and the sale of used books are totally in the hands of bookstores," he said.

The new measures may force professors to commit to the same book several years in a row, which won't be a problem for most, said Mark Spaulding, president of the faculty senate at UNC-Wilmington. But it could present challenges in disciplines where content becomes outdated, Spaulding said.

"We have to figure out a way to contain costs, but at the same time, we have to make sure that we do that without compromising the quality of the education. Otherwise, the savings aren't worth it," Spaulding said.

Students said the board's action was more than they had hoped for. Jake Parton, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, drove hundreds of miles from his spring break in Florida this week to lobby for cheaper books. He said he spent $900 on books in one semester.

Bowles said the measures are a good first step.

"We can do better," he said, "because textbooks are a huge part of the costs of education. We've got to drive them down."