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ITEM 000-0000-R0000Page 1 of 34
May 22-23, 2015
ITEM [000-0000-R0000]Affordable College Textbook Plan – University of Montana - Missoula
THAT
The Board of Regents authorizes a two-year pilot at UM: 1) to contract with Rafter, Inc. a total value of $21 per qualified undergraduate student per credit hour to cover the cost of textbooks and qualified materials, plus software and services to implement the program; 2) for the University to add $1 per qualified undergraduates student per credit hour to a establish a liability fund for loss coverage for any non-returned books; and 3) to add these costs as a mandatory fee for qualified undergraduate students as the Affordable College Textbook Plan & Liability Fund.
EXPLANATION
1. This ITEM authorizes UM to contract with Rafter to provide, under a two-year pilot, the technology software that will be used to collect textbook adoptions, procure these materials, and manage this inventory end-to-end; Rafter will sub-contract with The Bookstore at the University of Montana to provide operational support to collect textbook adoptions; to manage the on-site logistics; and to provide physical space, hardware, fixtures, and staff to operate the program.
2. This ITEM authorizes UM to establish a liability fund for loss coverage that will be used to offset the cost of non-returned books; to further reduce liabilities, the University will also place “holds” on accounts, e.g. students will not be able to receive transcripts, etc., until unpaid charges are resolved. If less than $1 per credit hour is needed for loss coverage, then this fee will be lowered.
3. This ITEM authorizes UM, under a two-year pilot, to apportion these costs and to bill qualifying students a mandatory pass-thru fee for the Affordable College Textbook Plan & Liability Fund for Loss Coverage; to specify any courses or programs that may be excluded from the Plan; and to implement an opt-out process to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis for students when extenuating circumstances can be shown to exist. (See Table 1 – Billing Plan)
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Table 1 – Billing Plan
Credit Hours
Affordable Collect Textbook Plan *(Paid by students to UM)
Liability Fundfor Loss Coverage *(Paid by students to UM)
(Paid by UM to Rafter)
1 $21 $1 $212 $42 $2 $423 $63 $3 $634 $84 $4 $845 $105 $5 $1056 $126 $6 $1267 $147 $7 $1478 $168 $8 $1689 $189 $9 $189
10 $210 $10 $21011 $231 $11 $23112 $252 $12 $25213 $252 $12 $25214 $252 $12 $25215 $252 $12 $25216 $252 $12 $25217 $252 $12 $25218 $252 $12 $25219 $252 $12 $25220 $252 $12 $25221 $252 $12 $252
+ 22 $252+ $21 per credit hour
$12+ $1 per credit hour
$252+ $21 per credit hour
* Applies only to qualified students (see Attachment 1, Table 1 – Rollout Plan)
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Affordable College Textbook PlanAttachment 2 – Affordability Report on Course MaterialsAttachment 3 – Frequently Asked Questions by Students, Faculty, & StaffAttachment 4 – Planet Money, NPR Report: “Why Textbooks Prices Keep Climbing”Attachment 5 – Endorsements
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Attachment 1 Affordable College Textbook Plan & Liability Fund
Contents
Section 1: Executive Summary – Background, Philosophy, & Key BenefitsSection 2: Principle Questions & ConcernsSection 3: Implementation Plan for Pilot Program
Section 1: Executive Summary – Background, Philosophy, & Key Benefits
(a) Problem As many students will attest, the cost of textbooks continues to climb. According to economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices are up 812% over the last 30 years. In comparison, the Consumer Price Index has gone up 251%, and healthcare costs have gone up 534% during the same time. Ultimately, the prices increase comes down to a battle between students rationally trying to save on out-of-pocket expenses, and publishers rationally trying to preserve profits as they face increasing competitive pressure from the efficiencies in the after-market (e.g. Amazon) for used books which has been a catalyst for these price increases. [For background, see Attachment #4 – Planet Money, NPR Report: “Why Textbook Prices Keep Climbing”; for more see ITEM 159-1004-R0513 – Attachment #2, approved May 23-24, 2013]
(b) Background Members of the President's Cabinet together with ASUM leaders and leaders from the Faculty Senate have been looking at this problem for a year, and in October, the ASUM Senate passed a resolution asking the University to form a Steering Committee to propose a plan for how to control textbook costs and create an even playing field in the classroom for all students by providing equal access to all required textbooks.
(c) Current Impact on Students Outcomes [Stats from campus on financial aid distributions, etc.]
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(d) Proposal The Steering Committee composed of students, faculty, and administrators has proposed the "Affordable College Textbook Plan” and “Liability Fund for Loss Coverage.” The proposal, which is supported by members of the ASUM Senate and Faculty Senate, calls for a two-year pilot with incoming students, with the option to extend for two additional years if successful. The Plan would provide 100% of qualified students (see Table 1, based on matriculation date and admission status), taking courses on the main campus, with 100% of textbooks and qualifying materials for $21 per credit hour with a “flat spot” at 12 credits for full-time students, saving the average undergraduate up to 29% or more. For loss coverage, an additional $1 per credit hour would be added for the Liability Fund. [See Attachment 2 – Affordability Report on Course Materials]
Table 1 – Rollout Plan
ProgramYear
ProgramPhase
Students Qualified for Plan Cohort by Academic Year
Year 1 Pilot 1st-time Freshmen 2015-2016
Year 2 Pilot 1st-time Freshmen+ returning Sophomores
2016-20172015-2016
Year 3 Launch(w/ renewal)
1st-time Students (including transfers)+ returning Sophomores+ returning Juniors
2017-20182016-20172015-2016
Year 4 Expand(w/ renewal)
1st-time Students (including transfers)+ returning Sophomores+ returning Juniors+ returning Seniors
2018-20192017-20182016-20172015-2016
(e) Textbook AffordabilitySavings in the Plan are achieved in three ways: 1) through a "library" or "high school"-type model for textbooks whereby, aside from items like workbooks and lab manuals that are destroyed after their first use, students would return textbooks at the end of the term for re-use by the next student; 2) by gaining efficiencies in the adoption and procurement process through the use of upgraded back-office software and purchasing services to administer the Plan; 3) by leveraging the scale of University's buying power to negotiate better prices with publishers, distributors, and other content providers.
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(f) Student Outcomes During the pilot period, the Plan would provide students with 100 % of their required textbooks and published reading materials – print or digital – by the time class starts, thereby creating equal access to learning materials and providing a more even playing field to improve each student’s chance for success. Beginning on the first day of classes, faculty will be able to focus on teaching, instead of waiting for students who do not have all their required course materials.
(g) Financial Predictability One of the University’s goals with this Plan is to reduce unplanned, unbudgeted out-of-pocket expenses for textbooks which create barriers for students. By including books on a student’s bill at a flat rate – like tuition, a meal plan, or other campus service – the University will improve financial predictability and control price inflation. Likewise, to ensure financial predictability for the University, a “Liability Fund for Loss Coverage” will be established by collecting $1 per credit hour from participating students to offset the cost of non-returned books. If less than that amount is needed, then this fee will be lowered.
Section 2: Principle Questions & Concerns
(a) How does the Plan impact affordability ?The Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for Administration & Finance, and the ASUM President requested an “apples-to-apples” report of textbook options to compare the average textbook prices for University students under the Plan versus what an average student pays today (see Attachment 2). The Report found that approximately two thirds of students would pay less than they do today to acquire all textbooks with the Plan, and approximately one third of students who can shop exclusively online (*) would pay about the same, but would have fewer customer service issues at the start of the term, and would receive books in a more timely manner. Additionally, the Report showed that the Plan would provide an estimated savings of approximately $100,000 during a two-year pilot with first-year students, and would lower the Estimated Total Cost of Attendance by approximately 4% (excluding living and personal expenses) for full-time undergraduates paying in-state tuition.
* Note: Veterans and students receiving financial aid in the form of vouchers, students with disabilities, any students (23% of Fall enrollments) assigned “custom” textbooks which are not typically carried by 3rd parties, as well as other segments of the student population do not have the ability to acquire all of their required materials online.
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(b) How does the cost of the Plan impact students in different degree programs ?Like tuition and other fees, all full-time students pursuing an undergraduate bachelor degree would be billed the same amount for the Plan, regardless of major, providing students with the greatest latitude to explore any area of study. Relatedly, analysis of the University’s course catalog and textbook adoptions, course enrollments by discipline, and bachelor degrees granted by discipline found there to be substantial normalization of textbook costs, regardless of major, across sciences (heavy book usage), humanities (moderate book usage), and arts and communications (light book usage). General education courses which require students to take a variety of core courses across disciplines, and lighter / less expensive book usage across upper division / elective courses are the primary reasons why the cost of textbooks for a bachelor’s degree does not vary substantially for arts, humanities, or science majors. (See Attachment 2 – Affordability Report of Course Materials)
(c) How does the Plan impact academic freedom ?The Affordable College Textbook Plan was designed to maintain academic freedom for faculty. Faculty will be asked to adopt textbooks and other instructional materials as they normally do, by submitting timely textbook adoption requests prior to the start of each term. From a faculty perspective, the main change will be the use of a new online adoption tool to collect textbook adoption requests. The adoption tool will be the canonical source of information for all textbook adoptions, as well as other group-assigned reading materials. Additionally, faculty will find that all first-time Freshmen – and if the pilot is successful, eventually all undergraduates – have their assigned materials so that instruction can begin the first day of class.
(d) How was a vendor (Rafter) selected to support the pilot ?The University reviewed the options available in the market and was unable to find any services, other than Rafter’s program, that enable a program of this kind. Other service providers to the college textbook industry – namely wholesale book companies (e.g. Nebraska Book Company), textbook distributors (e.g. Ingram), virtual bookstores (e.g. eCampus), point-of-sale system providers (e.g. Sequoia Retail Systems), specialized point solutions (e.g. Verba Software), online retailers (e.g. Amazon), and lease operators (e.g. Barnes & Noble College Stores) – do not offer a comparable program. A similar program proposed here is offered by Follett Higher Education Group, but the Follett program is only implemented on campuses where the college bookstore is leased by Follett. That model does not fit the University because our bookstore is an independent not-for-profit organization.
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Section 3: Implementation Plan for Pilot Program
To implement the Affordable College Textbook Plan, the University plans the following:
(a) Plan Coverage Hardcover, paperback, ebooks, access codes, courseware, faculty-developed course packs, and other published items given an ISBN, required by faculty for all students (i.e. group assigned content) and not already included in other course fees are included in the Affordable College Textbook Plan. Supplies such as art materials and sheet music for individual performance, uniforms and equipment for field work, subscriptions to periodicals, and software or parts for projects are not included in Plan.
(b) Phased Rollout The University proposes a two-year pilot, which would include a phased rollout to begin with all incoming first-time Freshmen students (based on matriculation date and admission status), taking courses on the main campus in the 2015-2016 academic year, beginning Fall term. If the pilot proves successful, the plan may be renewed for two more years, and all incoming first-time students (including transfers) would be added to the Plan each academic term thereafter until virtually all undergraduates are covered. Students currently enrolled at the University would not be added to the Plan until such time that the ASUM makes that request of the University. (See Attachment 1, Table 1).
(c) Student Billing Student bills would include new fees per this proposal. All full-time undergraduates taking 12-21 credit hours would pay a flat rate of $252 per student per term for the Plan. All part-time undergraduates taking 1-11 credit hours would pay $21 for each credit hour; undergraduates taking more than 21 credit hours would pay the full-time flat rate of $252, plus $21 for each additional credit hour. For loss coverage, an additional $1 per credit hour would be added for the Liability Fund (see ITEM, Table 1).
(d) Book Fulfillment The University would contract with Rafter to provide the necessary technology, procurement, and support services to launch and maintain the service. To manage on-site logistics, Rafter would sub-contract with The Bookstore at the University of Montana to provide the logistical support to receive inventory, store materials securely, assemble and distribute materials into individual packages for students, and later collect and return to Rafter any materials that are not re-adopted.
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Attachment 2 Affordability Report on Course Materials
(a) The Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for Administration & Finance, and the ASUM President requested an “apples-to-apples” report of textbook options to compare the textbook prices for students under the Plan versus what an average student pays today.
(b) Data sources for the study from Rafter was based on the University’s Fall 2014 textbook adoptions, behavioral data from Student Watch (a national survey of 12,195 college students with a margin of error +/- 0.89% at the 95% confidence interval) to quantify shopping trends (i.e. % of students shopping online 3rd parties like Amazon vs. on-campus); new and used book prices from The Bookstore, and online prices for the same titles found on seven different online marketplaces (e.g. Amazon, Chegg), representing 5,783 book sellers, which yielded 814,417 online price observations.
(c) Data was then weighted based on course enrollments, the proportion of textbooks purchased on-campus at a bookstore vs. online (3rd party, e.g. Amazon), how many textbooks are purchased versus rented according to student survey data, the condition and format of books acquired (e.g. new, used, digital), and the average price by channel (e.g. The Bookstore vs. Online (3rd Party) to calculate an average book price per channel; finally, the weighted average price for a book was multiplied by the average number of required books per term at the University based on the Fall adoption data.
(d) The Report found that approximately two thirds of students would pay less than they do today to acquire all textbooks with the Plan, and approximately one third of students who can shop exclusively online (*) would pay about the same, but would have fewer customer service issues at the start of the term, and would receive books in a more timely manner – even after accounting for the buyback option to sell books for their residual value in cash. Additionally, the Report showed that the Plan would provide an estimated savings of approximately $100,000 during a two-year pilot with first-year students, and would lower the Estimated Total Cost of Attendance by 4-5% (excluding living arrangements and personal expenses) for full-time undergraduates paying in-state tuition. [* Note: Veterans and students receiving financial aid in the form of vouchers, students with disabilities, any students (23% of Fall enrollments) assigned “custom” textbooks which are not typically carried by 3rd parties, as well as other segments of the student population do not have the ability to acquire all of their materials online.]
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Chart 1 – Average Price Students Would Pay to Acquire 100% of Required Textbooks
PublisherPrice
UM Campus
UM & Online(Average Student)
Online (3rd Party)
UM "ACT" Plan(Proposed)
$175
$225
$275
$325
$375 $392
$298 $272 $250$250
Key Takeaway: The Plan improves affordability for2/3 of students, maintains the same level of affordability for others, and ensures all students have books when classes start.
Notes: Analysis of current costs does not include shipping costs for online (3rd Party) orders, nor cash back from buyback option (see Chart 2); online offers (3rd Party) may include used books in ‘acceptable’ condition, international editions, and editions not intended for classroom use; students may incur additional costs to correct for these issues; all used books at UM bookstore are in ‘good-or-better’ condition for classroom use, and only U.S. editions are sourced unless otherwise specified by faculty – no price adjustments have been made for these factors, nor additional loss coverage.
Sources: Student Watch™ survey, Fall 2013 (Data Tables, Page 36, 51) for book sources, condition, and format; The Bookstore (UM Campus) prices & Rafter MINT Service (Online 3rd Party) for prices; weighted average price per book multiplied by average number of books per course for a full-time student at the University.
~35% of students
~33% of students
~32% of students
100% of students
Current Situation ~30% of students get books after classes start and
~43% have issues with online orders
Proposed100% of students get books
via pickup by class start
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Chart 2 – Average Price Students Would Pay Including Buyback Option, Excluding Shipping Costs
PublisherPrice
UM Campus
UM & Online(Average Student)
Online (3rd Party)
UM "ACT" Plan(Proposed)
$175
$225
$275
$325
$375 $392
$292 $266 $244$250
Chart 3 – Example of the cash an average student may receive by selling books based typical basket
Item Format Source Offer Cash Back1 Purchase (old edition) Online < 25% of list < $ 192 Textbook Rental (old edition) Online No offer $03 Purchase (custom edition) Campus No offer $04 E-book / Access Code (new edition) Campus No offer $05 [Textbook not acquired] N/A N/A N/A
Subtotal (before weighting by student participation rate) < $19Total (after weighting by participation rate) $6
Key Takeaways: For the ~30%-35% of students who participate in buyback, the value that students receive from selling back books has decreased over time as publishers have responded to increased efficiencies in the used book market (see Item ITEM 159-1004-R0513, Attachment #2); mitigating factors include 1) edition updates which render old editions obsolete or diminish their residual value, 2) custom editions which have little or no after market value, 4) binding-types (e.g. loose leaf) that are not durable for reuse, 5) bundling (e.g. a textbook, plus workbook not sold separately), and 6) rental or subscription-based content models that expire.
Sources: Based on average list price / book of $78 for University of Montana adoptions as reported above, Student Watch data on spending behaviors, published wholesale price guides, and price observations from online marketplaces (e.g. Amazon, Chegg).
~35% of students
~33% of students
~32% of students
100% of students
Current Situation ~30% of students get books after classes start and
~43% have issues with online orders
Proposed100% of students get books
via pickup by class start
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Chart 4 – Book Buying Activity Before & After Classes Have Started
7/1 7/5 7/97/13
7/177/21
7/257/29 8/2 8/6
8/108/14
8/188/22
8/268/30 9/3 9/7
9/119/15
9/199/23
9/27
Key Takeaway: Nearly 1/3 of students are unprepared when classes start, and many students still do not have required books one or more weeks later.
Source: University of Montana academic calendar, Rafter MINT Service, and data from Student Watch™ report (Data Tables, Page 13)
Chart 5 – Percentage of students who had difficulties with an online order (including on-campus store)
43%57%
Experienced Difficulties
No Difficulties
Key Takeaway: Many students experience difficulties with their textbook order while trying to save money by ordering online.
Source: Student Watch™: Attitudes & Behaviors Toward Course Materials, Fall 2013 (Data Tables, Page 10, What difficulties do students experience most often when ordering online??
30%70%
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Chart 6 – Detail of difficulties experienced by students from an online order (including on-campus store)
0%
20%
40%
60%
51%
13% 12% 11% 13%
Key Takeaway: Of the difficulties students experience with online orders, nearly 2/3 cause result in a delay before students have the books they need.
Source: Student Watch™: Attitudes & Behaviors Toward Course Materials, Fall 2013 (Data Tables, Page 10, What difficulties do students experience most often when ordering online?)
Chart 7 – Estimated Student Savings
Year 1 Over 4 Years$0
$200,000$400,000$600,000$800,000
$1,000,000$1,200,000$1,400,000$1,600,000$1,800,000
$116,248
$1,660,736
First-yearsUpperclassesAll Undergraduates
Key Takeaway: The Affordable College Textbook Plan provides substantial savings.
Source: Annualized savings estimate if students acquired 100% of required materials through current channels versus under the Affordable College Textbook Plan; excludes additional loss coverage.
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Chart 8 – Impact of the Plan on the Estimated Total Cost of Attendance
Current Proposed ChangeResident (2014-2015)
Tuition & Fees $6,099 $6,099 -Textbooks $784 $504 -36%
Supplies $156 $156 -Educational Expenses $7,039 $6,759 -4%
Key Takeaway: The Affordable College Textbook Plan lowers the Estimated Total Cost of Attendance for the University of Montana
Source: Annualized cost of tuition and fees from The Montana University System, Inventory and Validation of Fees, Fall/Spring Semesters – Undergraduate Lower Division for 2014-2015, and the proposed Affordable College Textbook Plan; excludes living expenses, personal expenses, and additional loss coverage.
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Chart 9 – Percent of courses offered by area of study
43%
34%
23%Sciences (high book usage)
Humanities (moderate book usage)
Arts & Comms. (low book usage)
Chart 10 – Percent of course enrollments by area of study
25%
60%
15%Sciences (high book usage)
Humanities (moderate book usage)
Arts & Comms. (low book usage)
Chart 11 - Percent of bachelor degrees conferred by area of study
30%
58%
12%
Sciences (high book usage)
Humanities (moderate book usage)
Arts & Comms. (low book usage)
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Key Takeaways: Course offerings are fairly evenly distributed between arts (23%), humanities (34%), and sciences (43%), but a large majority of enrollments (85%) and degrees conferred (88%) are in the humanities and sciences; in 2012-2013 a total of 118 (6%) of bachelor degrees conferred were for Visual & Performing Arts.
Sources: Analysis of all undergraduate courses offered in University of Montana Course Catalog and corresponding textbook adoptions, University of Montana Course Schedule for Fall 2014, and the Program completions for 2012-2013 as reported to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education
Chart 12 - Estimated 4-year cost of textbooks by degree program with vs. without the Plan
Row # Degree Program
Est. 4-year Cost to
Incoming Freshmen
Est. Savings with Plan by
Degree
Bachelor Degrees
Conferred
Textbook Costs by Degree
(lowest = #1)1 Biological & Biomedical Sciences $3,053 (53%) 111 (6%) 14
2 Business, Marketing, & Related Programs $3,097 (55%) 348 (19%) 15
3 Computer Sciences & Related Programs $2,467 (23%) 12 (1%) 7
4 Education $2,463 (23%) 84 (5%) 6
5 Health Professions & Related Programs $2,084 (4%) 46 (2%) 2
6 Journalism, Comms., & Related Programs $2,708 (35%) 104 (6%) 10
7 Liberal Arts, General Studies, & Humanities $2,022 (1%) 231 (13%) 1
8 Mathematics & Statistics $3,006 (50%) 21 (1%) 12
9 Natural Resources & Conservation $2,325 (16%) 185 (10%) 5
10 Parks, Recreation, & Fitness Studies $2,469 (23%) 101 (5%) 8
11 Physical Sciences $2,755 (38%) 37 (2%) 11
12 Psychology $3,036 (52%) 136 (7%) 13
13 Public Administration & Social Services $2,572 (29%) 65 (4%) 9
14 Social Sciences $2,306 (15%) 245 (13%) 4
15 Visual and Performing Arts $2,185 (9%) 118 (6%) 3
Estimated 4-year cost (without ACT Plan) $2,573 * – 1,844 (100%) –
Proposed 4-year cost (with ACT Plan) $2,016 * (29%) * – –
* Weighted average based on awards by degree program
Key Takeaways: 1) Given continued price increases by publishers which have averaged 6-8% annual inflation each year since 1993 (source: economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics), the proposed Plan for incoming students is estimated to save the average student $573 over four years versus paying
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“average basket prices” (i.e. the “average” student who shops the UM campus & Online 3rd Party sources to acquire all materials); 2) all “average” students will be “as good or better off” under the Plan, paying about the same or less, regardless of a student’s chosen degree program, to acquire all materials; 3) general education courses which require students to take a variety of core courses across disciplines, and lighter / less expensive book usage across upper division / elective courses are the primary drivers of textbook costs across degree programs for all students.
Notes: This analysis is based on general education requirements, major requirements, and minimum graduation requirements as outlined in the University’s 2014-2015 Course Catalog. Textbook costs are based on earning the minimum 120 credit hours to graduate and do not include additional loss coverage; additional textbook costs that students may bear for credits earned above the 120 credit hour minimum are not included – this may include students with multiple majors, multiple minors, earning multiple degrees, seeking honors credentials, seeking additional professional certificates or licensure. This analysis does not consider textbook costs paid by students for credits earned at another institution, or alternate degree requirements for students who already hold a bachelor degree and are seeking a second bachelor degree. Three (0.2%) additional bachelor degrees were conferred in Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, but insufficient adoption data was available for textbook cost analysis, so that degree program is not included. Prices are based on the “average” student who shops the UM campus & Online 3rd Party sources because not all students have the ability to shop exclusively online to acquire all required materials.
Sources: Analysis of all undergraduate courses offered in University of Montana Course Catalog and corresponding textbook adoptions, University of Montana Course Schedule for Fall 2014, and the Program completions for 2012-2013 as reported to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education.
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Attachment 3 Frequently Asked Questions by Students, Faculty, & Staff
Q&A for Students
(a) What materials are included in the Plan ?Hardcover, paperback, ebooks, access codes, courseware, faculty-developed course packs, and other published items given an ISBN, required by faculty for all students (i.e. group assigned content) and not already included in other course fees are included in the Affordable College Textbook Plan. Supplies such as art materials and sheet music for individual performance, uniforms and equipment for field work, subscriptions to periodicals, and software or parts for projects are not included in Plan.
(b) What is the format of the books ?Books may be in print or electronic (ebook) format, depending on the format the instructor adopts for the course. Some instructors may adopt both the print and electronic formats for the same title, thus giving students the choice of which to use.
(c) What is the condition of the books ?Many books are brand new, and all used books are in good-or-better condition.
(d) What if I want to buy or keep a book ?You may keep any of the books you receive. Some books (e.g. workbooks & access codes) will be yours to keep at no additional cost, and marked “Yours to Keep.” For others that need to be returned, you would pay 50% of list price (i.e. the used book wholesale price) to keep any book – a discount of 20-35% (or more) off the retail price for used books. The purpose of this fee is strictly to cover the cost of replacing items for the next student who may need it.
(e) May I write or highlight in the books ?Yes. But be kind to the next student who will get your book. A reasonable amount of writing and highlighting is definitely ok – just don’t turn it into a work of art.
(f) What if I add or change a class ?If you add a class after you’ve picked up your other books, come to the bookstore to get the books for your added classes as soon as 2 hours after you’ve added the class. If you add a class and haven’t picked up your books; the books for your added class will be ready for you when you pick up the rest of your books.
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(g) What if there aren’t enough books for everyone ?In the unlikely event that a book goes out-of-stock, a replacement will be ordered with expedited delivery at no additional cost.
(h) What if I’m taking a course that continues spring term? Can I keep the same book ?Yes. As long as you’ve registered for the spring continuation course before returning your books at the end of the fall term, you’ll be able to keep the book for the subsequent term.
(i) What if I drop a class ?You will receive an email reminder to return the book to the bookstore or other designated location.
(j) When do the books have to be returned ?Books need to be returned by the last day of finals, or within seven days of dropping a course. You will receive email reminders to help you remember.
(k) What if I lose or forget to return a book ?You will be charged 50% of the list price (i.e. the used book wholesale price) so that the book can be replaced. If you need a replacement book, your bookstore staff will coordinate a replacement order.
(l) What if my book was accidentally damaged ?Some normal wear and tear is expected, but if the book is damaged to the point of not being acceptable, you will be charged a non-returned item charge (50% of list price) and you can keep the book.
(m)How do I find out the exact cost for keeping, losing, or damaging a book ?
Your bookstore staff will be able to tell you the non-returned item charge for each of your books at any time.
(n) Can I go online to view information on my course materials ?Yes. You may access your personal course materials dashboard online. Login details will be made available before classes begin in the fall. You will also receive email confirmations when you check out and return books.
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Q&A for Faculty
(a) As a member of the faculty, will I be told what books to adopt for a course ?Absolutely not. Academic freedom is a core principle of the program. The only time you would be asked to consider a different adoption is if sufficient quantity to supply students in your course is not available from publishers, distributors, wholesale book companies, and/or the open market (e.g. a rare out-of-print book). As long adequate supply of the item (new or used) is available, you may adopt it. If sufficient supply cannot be validated, you will be consulted to see if you may know of an alternative supply source, or to consider an alternate edition.
(b) What materials are included in the Plan ?Hardcover, paperback, ebooks, access codes, courseware, faculty-developed course packs, and other published items given an ISBN, required by faculty for all students (i.e. group assigned content) and not already included in other course fees are included in the Affordable College Textbook Plan. Supplies such as art materials and sheet music for individual performance, uniforms and equipment for field work, subscriptions to periodicals, and software or parts for projects are not included in Plan.
(c) How do I adopt course materials ?Faculty and/or department assistants will be using a new online adoption tool to select and submit your course materials. The dates of the adoption campaign will be announced, and will conform to the typical timing of adoption campaigns already in place, e.g. the Fall adoption campaign will start in April or May, and the Spring adoption campaign will start in September or October. Training will be made available for those who wish to learn more, though the tool is known for being intuitive and easy to use.
(d) What if the book I want to adopt isn’t in your catalog ?Easy, just add it. Faculty will be able to select from a catalog of over 10 million nationally published items which is updated nightly with data feeds from publishers and distributors, plus faculty will have the option to add any other items that may not be published nationally including custom textbooks, self-published materials, course packs, and other items instructors specify. If you can’t find the book you’re looking for, there is a section in the adoption tool where you can enter the book’s information. Every effort will be made to acquire the book of your choice.
(e) Can I adopt custom titles ?Yes. The adoption tool provides a place for you to enter custom materials.
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(f) Can I adopt ebooks, access cords, or courseware ?Yes. If the item is not already listed in our catalog, the adoption tool provides a place for you to enter information about the digital item.
(g) Do I have to use the same edition for multiple terms ?No. There are no requirements for using the same edition of a book over multiple terms. If you’re interested in using an older edition we are happy to provide it as long as there is adequate supply of the book to cover your course enrollment.
(h) What if the book I want is out of print ?As long as there is sufficient supply of used books for that title, the book will be acquired – even if the book is out-of-print. The only reason a books might not be acquired is if there is not enough books to cover the enrollment for the course. In that case, someone will work with you to identify an appropriate alternative.
(i) How do I get a desk copy of my book ?You will be responsible for acquiring your own desk copy and it is recommended you work directly with the publisher of your textbook or purchase the book through a retailer. This program does not include inventory to provide faculty with desk copies.
(j) How do you handle cross-listed courses ?Faculty members sometimes adopt identical textbooks for different courses. When it comes time to distribute books to students, students will receive a single copy of any cross-listed titles. If there is a special reason why a student would need a unique copy for your course and an additional copy for any other courses, you may provide those instructions with your adoption request.
Q&A for Staff
(a) What kind of system integration is required ?Setup of the program includes scheduling several standard reports from the student information system related to the University’s course catalog / course section schedule and student enrollments within those courses to assemble textbooks into packages for pickup, (optionally) adding link(s) to the learning management system that will allow faculty to auto-login to the textbook adoption tool, and link(s) for students to auto-login to the student dashboard to access assigned e-books. Additional software will be provided to The Bookstore to manage receiving, distribution, and returns, and a new web-based textbook adoption tool will be provided to faculty and department assistants
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to submit textbook adoption requests. The adoption tool will be the canonical source of information for all textbook adoptions, as well as other group assigned reading materials as required to comply with Federal regulations.
(b) What costs are included in the proposed Plan ?The proposal includes all the costs that would be paid to Rafter for Rafter’s software technology, procurement of adopted materials included under the Plan, on-site training and support for one academic term as well as ongoing offsite support for the life of the agreement. The proposal also includes all operation costs that The Bookstore would bear as overhead to provide staff, space, and equipment to run the program.
(c) How are faculty ensured academic freedom and students financial predictability? The Plan includes a set of “adoption guardrails” (i.e. reports on the cost drivers in the overall catalog of adopted titles). The guardrails are simply a gauge, or “dials” set based on three years of aggregated textbook adoption behaviors, plus a 10-20% “buffer” for variance above historic patterns so faculty can do things like move to new editions, change or add titles, or select digital instead of print format when they are ready to do so – just as they have done for the last three years, with room to move higher. Faculty are welcome to make any changes to their adoptions that they like. In the event that the aggregate adoption behavior exceeds one or more guardrails, resolution is reached through consultation about adoption alternatives, review of sourcing alternatives, and/or incrementally adjusting the price of the Plan in future periods. In this way, the guardrails are managed similar to an insurance plan with rate changes when the policy is renewed based on coverage history.
(d) What happens if students do not return the books ?An itemized invoice will be provided to the University identifying students and materials that were not returned after other automated inventory recovery efforts have been exhausted. Typically, the non-return rate is 2-3% of the textbooks that are due. With this report, the University may apply charges to student bills, e.g. a fee for 50% of list price (i.e. the used book wholesale price) as a replacement charge. Unpaid charges will result in account “holds” e.g. students will not be able to receive transcripts, etc.
(e) How many campuses does Rafter work with ?Rafter currently provides software and services to over 250 colleges and universities in the U.S., including many mid- and large-size, Carnegie class public research institutions. The same software and services used to manage the proposed Plan is has been deployed at scale for many years on campuses across the country.
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(f) How is Rafter able to price the proposed Plan ?In 2014 Rafter introduced Rafter360, a flat-rate pricing model for a books-in-tuition program. The pricing intelligence behind the model has been used to operate BookRenter.com since its launch in 2006. BookRenter.com is the #2 online book rental business after Chegg which is #1. Rafter has taken the pricing intelligence as well as sourcing and liquidation efficiencies used to successfully manage its own textbook portfolio worth millions of dollars, and applied the technology to help campuses provide 100% of students with 100% of books for a flat rate that saves the average student over 50% versus publisher prices.
(g) If the program is successful, how will prices change when the contract is renewed? Price safeguards at the time of renewal may be included in the original contract at the University’s request. The pricing presented in the Plan is not a “teaser” rate. Adjustment for normal inflation pegged to the Consumer Price Index may be expected, and there are also opportunities to bring prices down further depending preferences expressed by faculty and students as the program is implemented.
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Attachment 4 Planet Money, NPR Report: “Why Textbook Prices Keep Climbing”
Listen (14 min, 56 sec):http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/03/353300404/episode-573-why-textbook-prices-keep-climbing
Transcript:
[A Student’s Perspective]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum]: Since the very early days of Planet Money we have regularly gotten emails from people asking us, “Please, please do a show about this thing. This thing I had to buy that seems weirdly expensive. Textbooks.
You got the textbook there?
[Kendell Redden, Student] I do. Yeah, let me grab it. Yeah, it wasn’t cheap, that’s for sure.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] This is Kendell Redden and she goes to school at American River College in California.
What’s it called? What’s the title? Can you read it?
[Kendell Redden, Student] It is “College Physics.”
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] And how much was the textbook?
[Kendell Redden, Student] It was about 310 dollars.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] It was the most expensive book she’d ever seen. “Really,” she thought, “310 dollars for a book with some online stuff?”
[Kendell Redden, Student] So I was actually kind of irritated, you know? So I ended up, at some point, I just needed the book. You know, we were starting class, we were getting homework, and all the stuff. So, I just went and… bought it. Put it on my credit card.
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[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Kendell is not questioning the value of an education, or that in the long run she’ll be earning more as a result of this class, and that the price of the book will be a drop in the bucket. It just seemed like a lot of money for what it was.
And something truly strange has been going on in the textbook market.
There’s this chart that gets cited a lot. Maybe you’ve even seen it. It’s from a government report on textbook prices and shows the price of new textbooks over the past decade. And it is a very steep line. The prices of new textbooks has been going up like crazy. Faster than clothing, food, cars. Even health care.
Hello, and welcome to Planet Money. I’m David Kestenbaum.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] And I’m Jacob Goldstein. Today on the show – by popular demand – why are textbooks so expensive? We talk to students, and textbook authors, and analysts, and publishers. And after all that, we think we found a pretty satisfying answer.
[A Professor’s Perspective]
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Let’s start with a guy named James Koch. He taught economics at Old Dominion University for a long time, and he never thought about the economics of textbooks until, at some point, students started coming to him and asking, “Uh, excuse me, professor. Do we really need this book you’ve assigned for class? It’s kind of expensive.”
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Kock said, “Yes. You need it. It’s a good book. But this got him thinking about the odd nature of the textbook market.”
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] One thing in particular struck him, which is that he was the one who was choosing the books for class. He’d thought about it carefully. The book was well written. He knew it was clear. He
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knew it had good problems at the end of the chapters. But he realized that there was one key thing he did now know about it.
[Dr. James Koch, Professor] I did not know how much it cost.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Normally, Kock says, the person deciding to buy something is also the person paying for that thing. In this case, that relationship was severed. The person choosing was not paying. Economists call this the ‘principal-agent problem. The principal is the person with the money. The agent is the guy figuring out how to spend it. I call this the ‘someone else’s money problem – it’s someone spending someone else’s money.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Is it really true that professors don’t think about price when they are looking at textbooks for a class?
[Dr. James Koch, Professor] I’ve been in higher education now for about four decades, and I never have had a single textbook sales person come into my office and talk about price. They are always talking about, ‘Gee, we have this new coverage with these new topics. We have this new DVD. We have these ways that you can test students and give them quizzes, and keep track of their progress. It’s always [about] what’s in the textbook package, never about the price.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] It’s odd for a sales person not to talk about price.
[Dr. James Koch, Professor] Well, it’s not odd when you think that they are talking to a person who doesn’t have to pay it.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] [Laughing] That’s the problem, huh?
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] This can lead to higher prices, really, in two different ways. I mean, first the simple one is that publishers just have less of an incentive to keep prices down to compete on price. But, the second one is actually more interesting to me.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] This market can lead to a fancier textbook than you’d get otherwise. A textbook loaded up with stuff that students might
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not need, because remember, it’s the professor who’s the customer. So, publishers will go to professors and say, “Hey, buy our textbook. It comes with online quizzes and slides and a workbook.” I mean, I remember when I was in college at the back of the biology textbook there was this DVD sitting there that I never once used, but I paid for it in the price of the book.
[An Author’s Perspective]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] I asked Cook about this particular economics textbook I happened to have on my desk. It is the best-selling economics textbook in America by Harvard economist, Greg Mankiw. You can buy it on Amazon for 286 dollars and 36 cents”
So I asked Cook, “Does what you’re saying mean that Greg Mankiw, your fellow economist, is making more money than he should off this book?” It was an awkward question, but I had to ask. Cook did not want to weigh in, so we did something more awkward. We called up Greg Mankiw himself.
[Dr. Greg Mankiw, Author] This is Greg Mankiw. I’m a professor of economics at Harvard University.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Let me just start by saying thank you for agreeing to come in and be grilled about the price of your textbook.
[Dr. Greg Mankiw, Author] [Laughing] It’s my pleasure, I think.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] I wanted to know – what did the author of an economics textbook think about the very market that that textbook was in? The principal-agent problem is right there in his book. It’s on page 462. So I ran the idea by him that professors who pick the books aren’t paying attention to the price. He agreed this was not ideal. But, he didn’t see it as a big problem.
[Dr. Greg Mankiw, Author] Well, I don’t think it’s as unusual a market as you suggest. It think there are lots of other markets that are similar. When you go get a medical operation you are often relying on the advice of a
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doctor even though you or the insurance company is paying the price. When you go get your car fixed you are relying on the mechanic to pick out the parts for you. When you’re building a new house or new extension on your house you are relying on your contractor to find the right parts and look out for your best interests. So, I think there are lots of situations when we rely on someone else to help us make an informed decision, and certainly the textbook market is that way.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] I feel like the examples you chose – health care, paying a contractor to work on your house, going to a mechanic – are all the things that people hate paying for, for this reason. I mean, people who get their homes renovated talk about what a nightmare it is, and healthcare is this famously broken market.
[Dr. Greg Mankiw, Author] Well, whenever you have a principal-agent problem there a risk that the agent, who in this case is the professor, doesn’t do due diligence – doesn’t do their job correctly – and doesn’t look out for the best interests of the principal, which in this case is the student. But a good professor would do that.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Mankiw says that professors do think a lot about what’s best for the student.
[Dr. Greg Mankiw, Author] The biggest expenditure for students is not the expenditure of money, but it’s the expenditure of their time. They are spending a lot of time in a course. They should spend a lot of time in the course if they are going to get a lot out of it, and I want their time to be used as productively as it can be, and giving them the best book to read, that I can, is far more important than saving them a few dollars. So, if somebody comes in and says, “I have a book that’s not as good, but it’s going to save your students 30 dollars,” then I’m going to say, “given that they are going to spend 40, 50, 60, 70 hours reading this book over the course of a semester, am I really going to skimp on a textbook to get something that’s inferior?” I don’t think so.
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[A Financial Analyst’s Perspective]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] So, OK, we have this theory about the ‘someone-else’s-money problem’ driving up the cost for college textbooks. It makes sense. But, it seems hard to test, right? We’d need some parallel universe where the people choosing the textbooks were paying for them so you could see what difference it makes.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Fortunately, that parallel universe exists. It’s called high school.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Very nice.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] High school textbooks are chosen and paid for by the local and state governments. It turns out, that forces publishers to keep the costs down. Jonathan Helliwell is a financial analyst at Panmure Gordon [& Company], one of the oldest brokerages in England. He says publishers earn much smaller profit margins on high school textbooks than they do on college textbooks.
[Jonathan Helliwell, Analyst] School book publishers make about 5 to 10 percent profit margins, and college textbook publishers make 20 to 25 percent profit margins.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] And you think one reason is that the people picking the books aren’t thinking about cost?
[Jonathan Helliwell, Analyst] I’d say that’s the biggest reason – who’s the customer and what’s the buying process.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Has anyone in the publishing business ever acknowledged to you that they have this advantage – that the professors aren’t thinking about cost?
[Jonathan Helliwell, Analyst] [Laughing hesitantly] They haven’t argued about it when I’ve put it to them. Let’s put it that way.
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[Perspectives on Used Books]
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] The someone-else’s-money problem’ theory is powerful, but it leaves out this one big thing that just about everybody we talked to agreed was a major factor driving up prices, and it’s something that oddly does not seem like it would make prices go up.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] It is the used textbook market. Twenty years ago the used book market was local. Basically, you’d go to your college bookstore. If they had a used copy, you could buy it. If not, you were stuck. The Internet, of course, changed all that. Now when a student in Florida finishes her class, and she can sell her book on EBay to someone in Montana. Or, just get a book on Amazon. Here I’m looking at the page from Mankiw’s textbook. New version – 286 dollars. Used – 227 dollars. If you don’t mind one that’s a few years old, you can get the previous edition used for 26 dollars.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] All this means that if you’re a publisher or a textbook author, you have this really short window to make money off your book because after the first semester, all the students who bought your book are going to turn around and sell it to the next batch of students.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Robert Frank is an economist at Cornell who’s written a textbook with former Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke.
[Dr. Bob Frank, Economist] It used to be, your new edition would come out, then the next year it would sell half as many copies as the first year, and then half again on the third year, and now you sell copies – if you sell any at all – in the first year, and it’s done.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Nothing the next year?
[Dr. Bob Frank, Economist] Almost nothing the next year.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] So if you’re a textbook company faced with this problem, what do you do? If you’re selling fewer books, how are you going to cover your costs? Well, you raise prices.
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And this, it seems, is what textbook companies did. But, raising prices just made things worse. People came up with new ways to avoid those higher prices. Textbook rentals. Illegal downloads. Some students just skipped buying books all together.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Which meant that textbook companies were selling even fewer books. So, they raised the price for new books again. You can see where this is going. One textbook salesman I talked to called it “a spiral of destruction.”
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] So, you have this battle. On the one hand, the price of new textbooks going up and up and up. On the other hand, students finding lots of ways around buying new full-priced books. Who’s winning?
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Turns out there’s data on this. It comes from the National Association of College Stores [a non-profit association that conducts student research]. They do these student surveys asking – how much do you actually spend on textbooks? We talked to Rich Hershman there. He went through the numbers with us.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] In 2007 how much did students spend?
[Rich Hershman, Research] 702 dollars.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] 2009, two years later?
[Rich Hershman, Research] Our reported spending is 667 dollars.”
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Oh, so it went down?
[Rich Hershman, Research] Yes, it did.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] 2011?
[Rich Hershman, Research] 655 dollars.
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[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Down again. It went up a bit the next year, then down even further.
[Rich Hershman, Research] So what we’ve seen, essentially, is flat to declining spending from what the students are saying they are spending on required course materials of the last 5 to 6 years.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] Students have basically fought the publishers to a draw on this one.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] And yet, everyone seems to feel like they’re losing – students who have to pay 300 dollars for a new physics textbooks, professors who are hearing their students complain, textbook sales people who once felt proud that they were helping further education but are now embarrassed to be out selling these really expensive books…
[A Publisher’s Perspective]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] …Which may be one reason why, when I finally sat down David Levin, the president and CEO of one of the biggest textbook companies around, McGraw Hill Education, he did not want to talk about textbooks. I kept asking about books. He kept talking about educational software. He saw it as a way out of this big “spiral of destruction” and rising prices. Electronic, interactive versions of textbooks.
[David Levin, Publisher] We’ve got now 500 engineers building those – full-time – and about 150 million dollars a year going into product creation. Your grandfather’s textbook company didn’t do that. It sat astride a business which was simple – produce books – and that’s what it did. We are plowing huge resources into creating a new set of instructional materials which help students and help instructors, and do so at a much lower price than ever seen before.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] You really don’t want to talk about books anymore?
[David Levin, Publisher] We don’t. This is not very interesting to us.
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[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Digital textbooks are cheaper than traditional textbooks. Easy to update. They don’t weigh anything. But for students, there is this one big drawback – you can’t sell them back to the bookstore, or anyone, at the end of the semester. There is not used market for digital textbooks.
[NPR: Jacob Goldstein] [Publishers] just have to find a way to keep students from downloading them illegally.
[Addendum]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] Several of you, by the way, asked us to look into why there seemed to be this constant stream of new editions of textbooks. Were those really necessary, you asked, or just attempts to sell more new copies? So we asked this question. Robert Frank, the economist, told us that for the microeconomics textbooks he writes he did not see any good reason why it to be updated as often as it is. He said for macroeconomics you would want to update it because there are things like the financial crisis that happen.
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] I also asked David Levin, the CEO of McGraw Hill Education about new editions, in particular we were talking about a calculus textbooks because – you know – the subject of calculus doesn’t really change. He said he’d only been on the job for six months, but the question clearly stuck with him because he later sent me an email saying he’d looked into it. He told me they publish one calculus book. It had last been updated in 2011, five years after the previous edition. He said they added a bunch of new problems and revised some parts of the text. But he wrote:
I can pretty much guarantee that we will never produce another print edition of this book. [David Levin, Publisher]
[NPR: David Kestenbaum] All right, I think that’s it.
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Episode 573: Why Textbook Prices Keep Climbing October 03, 2014 5:41 PM ET
About Planet MoneyPlanet Money: The Economy ExplainedImagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening. That's what we're going for at Planet Money. Want to know more? Check out our "about" page. Want to connect with the Planet Money team? Send us an email.
Contact:[email protected]
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Attachment 5 Endorsements
[Placeholder for endorsements from ASUM Senate, Faculty Senate, and/or other letters of support]
