Bundling hard copy textbooks with online access codes can restrict a student’s ability to save money on the used book market, according to a study recently published by a higher education advocacy group.

A “bundle” is a textbook sold with supplementary materials, such as an access code that unlocks online homework assignments, quizzes and tests.

The study, conducted by Student Public Interest Research Groups, examined course materials for 10 similar introductory courses at 40 randomly selected four-year and two-year institutions. It found that of the bundles sampled, 45 percent could not be purchased anywhere beside the campus bookstore, locking students into paying the listed price.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 required publishers to offer all individual components of bundles separately, though Student PIRGs said there are still substantial loopholes in the law.

“I think the problem comes about when you can only purchase that access code in a bundle, and you can only purchase that particular textbook in a bundle,” said Kaitlyn Vitez, the author of the Student PIRGs report and a higher education advocate for the group. “So, when we have these scenarios with custom materials in part of the package, that means that students can really only buy it in one place.”

College textbook pricing is contentious. Some researchers concluded that textbook prices are rising at astronomical rates, while others have found that prices have decreased.

Many students have opted to buy materials on the used book market, a route that Vitez said is mostly textbook bundles.

“In these specific instances where the bundle is only available on campus, it cuts students ability to shop around and save money,” Vitez said.

Marisa Bluestone, the director of communications for the Association of American Publishers, the national trade organization of the publishing industry, called the report “misleading” in an email, saying that all of the titles that were reportedly unavailable outside the bundle could in fact be purchased separately.

Bluestone added that online components of classes have value for students and faculty that traditional mediums might not offer.

“You (the student) can go in and take a quiz and you can see how you’re doing, and where you need improvement,” Bluestone said. “Similarly, at the professor level, they can take a look at the class, and what the class is studying, what they’re having problems with, and they can redirect their attention and focus to where the students need it the most.”

Critics of the practice argue that access codes can be financially restrictive for students, because they lack an alternative option.

“There’s not an affordable alternative, they can’t rent it, and they’re basically paying to turn in their homework, or paying to take a test or paying to do these assessments,” said Katie Steen, an open education policy manager for the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, a group that promotes open access scholarship. “There’s not a good opt out alternative for students, which in terms of accessibility issues is really concerning.”

Student PIRG’s study also found that switching to open educational resources could lower textbook prices. According to the study, switching the 10 introductory courses listed in the report to OER’s would save students $1.5 billion in material costs, assuming students were to purchase the least expensive OER option.

OER’s are academic resources, such as textbooks, that are under open licenses. That means anyone can revise or edit them without first being granted permission.

“Open education resources have the ability to save students a lot of money because of the open license and the legal permissions that it carries,” Steen said. “I think that it is the best alternative to the current traditional textbook market and the prices that students are having to pay.”

Bluestone said many publishers are already putting open access resources into their own work.

“Publishers aren’t opposed to OER. There’s a lot of OER that’s incorporated into publishing materials,” Bluestone said.

Published on February 11, 2018 at 10:47 pm

Contact Ryan: rarozenb@syr.edu