For Immediate Release
Pat Schroeder's Response to Second PIRG Study (Jan. 28, 2005)
January 28, 2005
Mr. David Rosenfeld
Program Director
The Student PIRGs
218 D Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Dear David,
First, let me thank you and Merriah for letting me see an early draft
of your report.
Publishers share your concerns about the real and troubling issues facing
higher education. Graduation rates are dropping. Dropout
rates are increasing. Fewer students are graduating in four years. Studies
show that as many as 50 percent of freshmen are not prepared for college
level math, reading or writing. Escalating tuition has placed higher
education beyond the reach of many students and budget cuts have placed
an increasing burden on instructors.
Professors and publishers are responding to these trends by creating
and using tools to help students succeed. According to studies
by the Center for Academic Transformation, their efforts are beginning
to pay off with higher student success rates.
You were kind enough to provide me with a summary of your findings. I
want to share with you a nationwide study of 1,029 faculty conducted
in December by Zogby International. There are significant differences
between the findings in the survey performed by PIRG volunteers and those
of the Zogby organization. I’ve made a few comparisons below:
| PIRG Fall ‘03 | Zogby International Dec. ‘04 |
| Volunteer Poll | Poll of 1,029 Instructors |
| 65% of faculty “rarely” or “never” use supplemental materials | 75% of faculty either “require” or “recommend” supplemental materials 55% generally use supplementary materials in instruction of their courses 63% at two-year schools 38% say that above-average students get the most use out of supplementary materials |
| 73% of faculty say new editions are justified “half the time” or less | 80% of faculty want their course material to be as current as possible, 62% prefer books with the most recent copyright date 55% say the release dates of new editions is about right or not frequent enough 49% say old textbooks are inadequate for student needs |
To help reconcile these differences, Zogby International has agreed to meet with you to review the methodology and findings of both surveys. Please contact me as soon as possible if you would like to arrange a meeting prior to your Tuesday press conference.
David, we’ve offered on several occasions to work with the PIRGs and other organizations to study textbook issues and help to identify ways to lower what students spend on textbooks. An overwhelming majority of college instructors, 84 percent, told Zogby that students absolutely need a textbook to complete their courses. And publishers offer hundreds of options with a broad range of price points for instructors to choose from as they tailor their classes to fit today’s diverse student body. Ignoring these facts serves neither students nor publishers.
The majority of your assertions are based on selective use of numbers and apples to oranges comparisons. You note that your study is based on only five best selling textbooks at each of the schools surveyed. Professors, not publishers, as you know, chose those books. Professors are among the best-educated people in the world and are not impulse buyers. Their choice of a textbook is a product of careful analysis that generally takes years to make. These are not your father’s textbooks, they are 21st century tools used to prepare students to succeed in today’s world.
You say that new textbooks cost more than used textbooks. Isn’t that to be expected? Still the cost of textbooks represents only a fraction of the total cost of higher education. Students spend an average of $2.23 a day on course materials, according to The College Board. That’s less than 6 cents of every educational dollar spent each year at public four-year colleges.
You talk of bundled books costing more than books without supplemental materials, which is logical based on the expense of producing those materials. Seventy-five percent of instructors surveyed by Zogby said they required or recommend supplemental materials. And, I should point out that supplemental materials sold separately cost more.
John Zogby noted in his analysis of their survey that “We’re in the Information Age. Textbooks are no longer just paper and cardboard. Professors see value in a multiple-media learning experience for their students.”
You question that textbooks are sometimes sold overseas for less than in the United States. The reality is that prices must reflect local market conditions, including such factors as standard of living, education costs, average per capita income, and comparative costs of other goods and services.
In England, where tuition can be 20 percent of that at a comparable U.S. institution, textbook prices must follow suit if they are to compete with prices set by indigenous publishing programs. In the poorest countries, publishers must consider piracy and counterfeiting problems if books are not available at prices the local market will bear. Setting prices according to regional conditions helps ensure access to quality educational materials for many more students and holds down the price of U.S. textbooks because costs can be spread further.
Publishers respect and share the concerns of PIRG and its members. Our focus is to make education better. We hope we can work together to identify solutions to the fundamental issues facing higher education. Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to discuss a meeting with the statisticians and analysts at Zogby International.
Sincerely,
Patricia S. Schroeder
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