MANATEE — A statewide effort to bring down the price of college textbooks in a variety of ways took effect Wednesday.
Measures passed last year by the Florida Legislature that just took effect could potentially save every college student money because they are designed to harness the power of the global marketplace to hack away at the high cost of books, according to state officials.
As part of the process, a task force of educators spent months studying the issue. It concluded that in order to bring down the price of books, students needed more time to shop.
New requirements call for posting a list of textbooks professors are requiring for each course at least 30 days before the first day of class for each term.
The effort drew praise from Arthur Guilford, the regional chancellor at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, who said his college has been requiring its faculty to submit their textbook order lists 30 days in advance for more than a year.
“The best thing is it has the potential of saving students hundreds of dollars every year,” said Guilford. “It gives our bookstores the opportunity to know if a student wants to turn in their books, which can be used again. Bookstores can re-sell a book to the next term student.”
Asked to estimate how much the effort might save each college student, Guilford said it would depend on how many used books they’ve bought, versus new ones, but add, “I would say a good 35 percent of whatever their book costs were.”
He noted that if a bookstore or textbook center employee knows a book will be used again, they will pay the student more to be resold as a “used” volume.
“The student who used it does better and the one who buys it does, too,” Guilford said. “We’re trying to help the students every way we can because textbooks are quite expensive now.”
The new requirements also provide students the opportunity to check other sources for the book. either online or at other bookstores, he said.
Bill Edmonds, director of communications for the Florida Board of Governors, which operates the state university system, said most of the state’s college have already installed the new measures.
“All institutions in the state university system have been working toward it since last fall,” he said earlier this week.
The task force also envisioned other options, such as rental or sharing arrangements among students.
It also suggested ways to help needy students who otherwise could not afford textbooks. Some schools might supply free books, but other possibilities might be such things as putting books on reserve in the library, for example, said Edmonds in an interview earlier this year.
Professors were also urged to exercise “cost awareness,” such as use of previous editions of textbooks when possible, or not requiring students to buy bundled textbooks material if it was not absolutely necessary.
Sara Kennedy, reporter, can be reached at 708-7908.
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