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High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

torrentfreak.com

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Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#11

Post by Scandiravian »

I studied law for a few years in Denmark and I remember the insane amount of money required to purchase all the books on the curriculum

Most of them were written by the professors who taught the course and every year or two, they'd reshuffle the contents of the book to make it harder for students to follow the course by purchasing used copies from the previous year

Most of the time only a small part of the books were actually part of the curriculum. It wasn't unusual to spend $100-$200 for a 700 page book only to later realise only 50 pages from it would actually be part of the curriculum. It seemed to me the page count had only been boosted to inflate the sticker price

I can understand why students turn to pirated copies when they realise they're just viewed as cash cows by the teaching staff

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#12

Post by the_only_law »

Scandiravian wrote: post #11

I studied law for a few years in Denmark and I remember the insane amount of money required to purchase all the books on the curriculum Most of them were written by the professors who taught the course and every year or two, they'd reshuffle the contents of the book to make it harder for students to follow the course by purchasing used copies from the previous year Most of the time only a small part of the books were…

The recent strategy I’ve heard of is to release new version of books with special online codes needed to access other content. That way, the students can’t even purchase used books.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#13

Post by AYBABTME »

Scandiravian wrote: post #11

I studied law for a few years in Denmark and I remember the insane amount of money required to purchase all the books on the curriculum Most of them were written by the professors who taught the course and every year or two, they'd reshuffle the contents of the book to make it harder for students to follow the course by purchasing used copies from the previous year Most of the time only a small part of the books were…

I quit a mandatory econ course, in my engineering track, because the teacher insisted that we buy their 200$ textbook. I switched class to his competitor.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#14

Post by jitl »

When I was in school, if we could find a way to take a course without buying a full price book we would. Piracy was a no brainer — it opened doors to all kinds of learning. I’m hugely thankful to the cracking teams that made some textbooks free and helped me learn Photoshop for $0 as a student.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#15

Post by cde-v »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #8

Here's a weird idea. Bundle materials into tuition expenses. It incentivizes the right people with the power and market participation to optimize for the right thing. Presumably, teachers and departments would have to justify costs from a materials budget to an admin forcing real downward pressure on the textbook market. The current state of textbooks acts like a surprise fee(dark pattern) where you purchase a produc…

Sounds like we have to peacefully protest until Citizens United gets overturned so the publishers can't just out lobby/spend us. Then continue peacefully protesting to change the tuition/book cost structure.

Totally realistic set of goals, but until then I'll be pirating.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#16

Post by shigawire »

the_only_law wrote: post #12
Scandiravian wrote: post #11

I studied law for a few years in Denmark and I remember the insane amount of money required to purchase all the books on the curriculum Most of them were written by the professors who taught the course and every year or two, they'd reshuffle the contents of the book to make it harder for students to follow the course by purchasing used copies from the previous year Most of the time only a small part of the books were…

The recent strategy I’ve heard of is to release new version of books with special online codes needed to access other content. That way, the students can’t even purchase used books.

That's how it works for many courses now.

A strategy I thought was fair at my school was - the main text is free, but you can pay for extra practice problems written by the professor for like $50.

That seemed fair to me since I know these adjunct professors aren't making anything for the amount of time they spend.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#17

Post by atomicnumber3 »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #8

Here's a weird idea. Bundle materials into tuition expenses. It incentivizes the right people with the power and market participation to optimize for the right thing. Presumably, teachers and departments would have to justify costs from a materials budget to an admin forcing real downward pressure on the textbook market. The current state of textbooks acts like a surprise fee(dark pattern) where you purchase a produc…

Freshman year, first semester, I paid $1100 for books, and then we only actually used one of them more than slightly. I still have them all. One of them was a Discrete Mathematics book that cost $250. We used it twice to do a "reading assignment" and since the class was only taught by the teacher who wanted this book just this one semester, the school store wouldn't buy it back at the end of the semester. It still creaks when I open it.

I was a first generation college student, my tuition and living expenses were funded mostly by a scholarship (covered all of my tuition and about 30% of living expenses) and a private student loan covered the remainder. My cash flow was strictly negative and the surprised $1100 bill right at the start was extraordinarily unappreciated and the fact it went to such comically little use was just spitting in your face.

So the subsequent 7 semesters I paid $0 for books, which still left me with an average cost of books at $137/semester. Ridiculous.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#18

Post by raincom »

Culprits are always the instructors/professors who teach courses. Aren't they happy with their salaries? How much royalty do these instructors get from selling $200 textbook to their students? These professors should be ashamed of themselves in involving this scammy behavior, while at the same time these unethical/immoral professors ask their students to sign honor code.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#19

Post by azernik »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #8

Here's a weird idea. Bundle materials into tuition expenses. It incentivizes the right people with the power and market participation to optimize for the right thing. Presumably, teachers and departments would have to justify costs from a materials budget to an admin forcing real downward pressure on the textbook market. The current state of textbooks acts like a surprise fee(dark pattern) where you purchase a produc…

More like a principal-agent problem than moral hazard, but that's just me being pedantic, you're absolutely right.

Re: High prices make textbook ‘piracy’ acceptable to most students

#20

Post by valine »

Textbook prices are so high that they create the impression among students that the publishers are stealing from them. Copyright provides publishers with a legal monopoly, which they exploit to increase prices. Whether we like it or not, piracy disrupts this monopoly.

Given years of abuse, the customer base that purchases textbooks has no patience for moral grandstanding. 'Lower prices or die' should be the message to publishers.

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