Proposed bills won’t lighten the load for college students

It was almost as if they cared.

For a few headlines, students in California and across the nation were treated to the idea of politicians taking up the cause of young people and lowering textbook costs.

The bills, H.R. 3512 in the federal House of Representatives and California Senate Bill 832, mandate that students and faculty be given more information regarding the cost of their books and when editions are set to expire.

The advent of multiple “textbook affordability” bills nationwide, however, is not a heartwarming display of politicians turning soft for the sake of their constituency. Instead it is an ineffectual aversion of the real issue: College costs too much.

Book prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation. As such, the average book costs over $100, and students spend just under $900 a year on textbooks.

In what might appear to be a surprising act of decency, legislators (at both the state and federal level) have reacted by introducing the aforementioned bills, aimed at slashing said costs.

The grandiosely named “College Textbook Affordability and Transparency Act of 2007″ was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 10.

Ironically, it would do next to nothing to lower textbook costs.

It would, however, force publishers to make the total cost of their books available to faculty. It also would make schools and publishers work together to make students aware of how much they will have to pay.

What a great reform movement: Tell teachers and students they have to assign and buy books that are still ridiculously expensive.

Instead of asking publishers to be so kind as to let students and faculty know just how ridiculous their prices are, legislators should initiate strict regulations.

By forcing the publishers to either face losing profits or make more economically savvy products, the state or federal government can even help the cause of environmentalists and others wary of paying too much for textbooks with glossy pictures and colorful covers.

Furthermore, it does not even matter if students can afford books if they cannot afford the tuition that would make the books necessary.

Fighting over whether or not textbook prices should be public information is akin to arguing over the cost of a uniform when most of the would-be athletes cannot afford the cost of joining the team.

The College Board reports that the cost of public education is rising far more rapidly than the rate of inflation, with tuition and inflation increasing 35 percent and 14 percent over the last five years, respectively.

According to the United States Department of Labor, inflation in recent years has hovered around approximately 3 percent. The 3-cent increase in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (the figure used to determine how the prices of a broad number of goods compare from year to year) is hardly to blame for the increasing cost of education.

The trend, though disconcerting, is not new.

In 2004, CNN Money reported that tuition fees at four-year public universities and colleges increased an astounding 10.5 percent. In 2003, according to the same article, the cost of attending a public school rose even more rapidly, at a 13 percent increase.

In both years, inflation was also approximately 3 percent. Respectively, college students saw publishers raise their costs by 7.5 and 10 percent ““ without any economic, production-cost-based justification.

Admittedly, tuition increases have slowed in recent years.

Last year’s increase was a mere 5 percent, with inflation stagnant at 3 percent. This translates into a difference of 2 percent ““ 2 percent that is essentially nothing but a price hike on behalf of the profit of hungry publishers.

An unwarranted increase of 2 percent more than the rate of inflation does not justify the sort of abandonment legislators have committed in switching to ineffectual textbook regulation.

State and federal politicians must be lobbied to enact legislation that does more than encourage publishers to disclose their prices. They should either push for real textbook reform or place caps on tuition costs.

Or they should stop pretending and be on the side of the starving college students and do both.

Would you rather pay for your own books and have your tuition be free? E-mail Makarechi at kmakarechi@media.ucla.edu.Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.

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