Internet Learning Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 2017/Winter 2018 | Page 43

Internet Learning Journal
be $2500 per year and $10,000 over four
years.” Once adjusted for courses outside
the major, it is likely that on average
business students will spend around
$8,000 on books across 4 years. (Perry,
2015). Among the primary reasons that
textbooks cost students so much include
the “ever increasing concentration of the
textbook publishing industry through
hundreds of acquisitions, resulting in
the elimination of price competition,
the established policies of schools that
inhibit alternatives [sic] sources of textbooks,
and somewhat lack of awareness
of professors about the cost of college
textbooks they adopt in their classes”
(Textbook Equity, 2013).
While high textbook costs may
seem trivial compared to the steep cost
of tuition, the increasing cost of materials
is another compounding factor that
may cause students to delay or simply
opt out of higher education (Buczynski,
2007; Jung, Bauer, & Heaps, 2017).
The gap in student access to higher
education has been lessened by access
to financial aid, as well as employee
and military benefits; however, studies
continue to demonstrate that students
are still struggling with the costs of
classroom materials. Buczynski (2007)
found that high textbook costs can result
in students enrolling in fewer classes
each term. This was further demonstrated
in a Florida Virtual Campus
student survey in 2012. While some students
receive financial assistance with
textbooks through Pell grants or scholarship
monies, a $700 semester book
bill may be out of reach for many students,
let alone $1,200, or $2,500. This
impacts not only student access to necessary
materials but also student learning.
It raises a series of ethical issues
for students who try to obtain course
materials without purchasing them.
Students may consider violating copyright
laws by picking up the book and
rapidly returning it after making copies
of the required material (depending on
university book store policies there may
be a short 7–14 day window to return
the book for a full refund, after this date
bookstores will then wait to do a buyback
week at the end of the term where
students sell back their books for a fraction
of its worth, only to then have the
store later sell it for a much higher used
rate). For those lacking up-front book
funds, another option has been to try
to acquire the book from the university
library. While course books may be
available, there is often only one copy:
creating competition among classmates
to check it out first and attempt to keep
it for the duration of the semester. Students
may keep this to themselves, provide
copies to classmates, or even post
to an online book sharing site, once
again violating copyright laws. Books
on university campuses have also come
to be viewed as a valuable and covetable
resource worth stealing (Isaacs, 2013;
McPhate, 2016; UVA Police Press Release,
2010).
Consequences of High Costs
Situations arise where students attempt
to pass a class without ever accessing
the material (Florida Virtual Campus,
2012). Students who cannot afford the
course texts may search the web to fill
in content gaps. In rare instances, they
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