As Textbook Prices Skyrocket, Students Look Beyond Borders
By Sarah Kuriakose
Staff Writer

Every college student has walked out of the bookstore the week before classes commence at least a few hundred dollars poorer.

College textbook prices in the United States have risen in recent years and a standard calculus text can cost as much as $150.

Recently, students looking for alternatives have found a shocking price difference in identical international editions of their textbooks offered on the Internet. For example, both Amazon.com and Huntley Bookstore offer the Oxtoby text Science of Change for $130, but Amazon.co.uk charges only $59 USD plus shipping.

This issue has only recently come to light in the media, and both college bookstores and publishers are floundering. Tom Bauer, director of the Claremont University Consortium’s [CUC] Huntley Bookstore, is spending this week at a conference of the National Association of College Stores to discuss this issue. Bauer says, “There is a lot of outrage. American publishers have been price-gouging the American people. How they can’t see it’s wrong is beyond me.”

College students around the country have reacted strongly, some taking part in letter-writing campaigns and others finding their own textbooks overseas. Williams graduates Richard Sarkis and David Kinsley have set up bookcentral.com, where they resell international editions at sharply discounted prices to US college students. They say, “It seemed so sleazy of the publishers. We were sure that college students would be shocked and outraged if they knew about the foreign prices. But it’s been this big secret.”

Publishers have given three main reasons for the price difference overseas. The first is the issue of piracy. American Association of Publishers President Pat Schroeder in an open letter wrote, “Industries seeking help from the U.S. Government to combat piracy abroad must price their goods to the local market in order to provide affordable legitimate alternatives to pirated versions. If we stopped producing overseas editions, we would be surrendering to piracy.” Public outcry has greeted this statement, declaring that this lowering of prices in effect surrenders to piracy.

Secondly, publishers have cited the need to price relative to local market conditions in order to sell any books. This may make sense in some extreme market conditions.

However, Linda Labrouche, assistant manager and textbook director of Huntley disagrees sharply, “Have they been to London lately? The UK is a perfect example where this makes no sense at all.”

Publishers have recently argued that international editions contain slight differences from domestic versions. Bauer, however, disputes this, “I ordered the Oxtoby text from amazon.co.uk, and that is complete nonsense, at least in this case.”

“Students have been extremely understanding about this whole issue. They see that it is beyond our control and I am very appreciative of that,” says Bauer. Few Claremont College students have complained although Bauer says that he has heard of at least one student who bought an international edition for a class this semester.

“I never knew about any of this, but it’s something to look into,” said James Cornish ’07.

Many students say that the possible pitfalls outweigh the lower cost. Chaz Turner ’07 comments, “It’s great that it’s fifty percent less, but if I get the wrong book, I can’t exactly ship it back to West Germany.”

Some students commented that the low price of text books oversees offered a potentially profitable business venture, but of those students interviewed all to think it was seemed more effort than it was worth.

Huntley Bookstore currently buys all the textbooks possible from used book suppliers around the country. Used textbooks are generally sold at half the standard price, and resold to students at 75 percent of the new book price.

The national markup average is twenty-two percent,which Labrouche says is comparable to Huntley’s markup. The money goes straight back into “literally keeping this building going,” according to Bauer.

Huntley Bookstore is the only Claremont University Consortium service that is not supported by the consortium. One strong advantage of buying from Huntley is the buy back policy, which gives the student 50 percent of the new book’s price despite any wear, if the book is in demand for the next semester.

Labrouche says, “We have looked at the issue, but we are certainly not going into that market at this time.” She cites a number of problems including the problems with shipping times, shipping charges, and return policy. There may also be an issue with getting multiple identical copies through a middleman like Amazon.co.uk. “Our job as a college bookstore is to be reliable; to have the right books for the right classes at the right time. The market is just too new for us to have that security.”

As it stands, it would be almost impossible for a bookstore to dive into the overseas market due to trade restrictions. However, individuals have the right to buy overseas editions without any penalty. Bauer also points out that a bookstore like amazon.co.uk would not take purchase orders and bookstores stand to lose a substantial amount of money. “We’re just doing what we’ve always done. The one thing that people tend to agree on is that college bookstores are currently on the higher moral ground. Publishers are just wrong.” Bauer plans to send out an all-points email to Claremont College students within the next week, explaining Huntley’s position.

Bauer concedes that if a large percentage of students turned to international editions of textbooks, Huntley’s profts would be harmed. “We have actually been in deficit for over five years, and just turned a profit last year. But, I don’t think this issue will break Huntley.” He expects radical change to occur, but emphasizes that we cannot expect it too soon. Only about 30 percent of textbooks published in America are published in an international edition, there is a limit as to the number of textbooks which can be purchased overseas.

For students who have long bemoaned rising textbook prices and find themselves shocked by this issue, Bauer has some advice: “As a college bookstore director, I’m at a loss right now. But if I was a student, I would do it. Absolutely. I would absolutely go to amazon.co.uk and see what they had to offer me.”