If you are reading this you probably know the following: the future of print is grim. But there is one field of print that is far from danger: the textbook industry.

Average tuition and fees at Ohio's public, four-year colleges rose by one percent this fall, to $8,146 a school year, according to the College Board's annual pricing report, released in late October. This means students at Ohio public colleges are paying among the lowest tuition increases in the country this school year. But according to a 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office"... textbook prices have increased 186 percent since 1986, or about six percent per year. By comparison, consumer prices rose 72 percent over that period."

Today, the higher-education publishing industry is makes $3.4 billion a year.
Schools and organizations across the country claim concern and a call to action. The College Board,a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity according to their website, recently released a statement.
“It is vital that we assure access to a high-quality college education for all students. While a college education is critical to long-term financial security, it feels out of reach to many students and families in today’s economy."

According to a Washington Post article, the publishing industry says that it must keep its material current to win schools' support and that prices are competitive in each market. Officials defend the continual new editions by major higher-education publishers Thomson Learning, Pearson Education and McGraw-Hill. In the article, they argue that texts must be "continually modernized if publishers want to keep the attention of today's college students, who are used to the graphics and interactivity of the Internet."

Marne Grinolds, librarian at Alden Library for five years, disagrees with this methodology. "We get more and more requests from students for textbooks every year," she said. "I wish they would not come out with new editions unless they are truly necessary. That is the main reason the library has stopped trying to buy them. We can't keep up [buying new editions] with the amount of money we have."

Professors may be unwittingly contributing to the rising costs of textbooks according the to the Washington Post article. Professors are asking for more content for teaching and learning. Usually the professor does not specify that those extras should be sold separately. So they are likely to be bundled with the book at a higher price. And students have no choice but to buy the entire package.

Dr. Jarrod Tanny, professor of Jewish Studies at Ohio University, said that it takes a lot of research to select the readings for a class, but that he doesn't want students to spend money unnecessarily. "I think that it's outrageous how the cost of textbooks has gone up... but any book a student will be reading more than 50 percent of is worth the purchase, unless its a book out of print," he said. "Until a few years ago [if a professor wished to assign excerpts of readings to students] you had to put together a course reader; that was a lot more expensive; Blackboard [a Web-based course-management system designed to allow students and faculty to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials and activities to complement face-to-face teaching] really solves a lot of those problems." (HEAR DR. JARROD TANNY SPEAK)

Ashlee Reynolds, 21,a senior who has worked at Specialty Bookstore on Court Street close to 1.5 years said the store receives a corporate guide every couple months that updates the acceptable price to buy back a book. "Sometimes I feel bad, especially for the freshmen that think they will be getting some money back," Reynolds said. "But you get used to the disappointed faces."

If you are selling back books, try selling them on site the Ohio Book Exchange. If you need that cash now, below are the bookstores at Ohio University that usually buy back.

View OU Spots to Sell back Textbooks in a larger map

For the future, check out some money saving ways to purchase textbooks. I recommend purchasing e-textbooks through Ohio Discount Textbooks for big savings.

Here is our small way of protesting textbook prices while remaining socially unacceptable. We asked strangers a local place of study to borrow their textbooks because we didn't buy our own.