Textbook publishers havecrossed an ethical boundary withtheir business practices.

Students have a right to an affordablecollege education, and thecollusion of publishers to inflatebook prices makes that impossible.

A recent study has discoveredevidence of exorbitant pricegouging by the college textbookindustry, hitting close to home formany students at De Anza Collegeand all over the U.S.

According to a 2007 report bythe Student Public Interest ResearchGroup, the average collegestudent will spend $900 a yearpurchasing textbooks, up to 50percent of total tuition and fees.

In order to inflate these prices,textbook publishers have takento “bundling” their books withother materials like CDs and studyguides, driving up costs by as muchas 47 percent. They also issue neweditions almost every three yearswith minimal content change.

Publishers have responded toaccusations of unethical practicesby claiming the market availablefor their books is limited, and bypointing at the damaging presenceof a large resale market. Theyclaim that prices have to be highjust for them to stay in business.

However, something is greatlyamiss. College enrollment hassteadily risen in past decades,greatly expanding the textbookmarket. A series of mergers in the1990s gave each publisher greatermarket shares. Technological advancementshave made book publishingcheaper than ever, and yet, textbook prices haven’t dropped inrecent years, or even remained steady.In fact, prices have skyrocketed at fourtimes the rate of infl ation. And that isonly the tip of the iceberg.

Higher education is not a luxury item,and it is crucial to the health and growthof any society. The average college graduatewill earn 73 percent more annuallythan the average high school graduate.This makes a college degree the goldstandard, and it should be fi nancially accessibleto anyone who wants it.

In the pursuit of ever-increasingprofi ts in a socially important market,the publishers are making it harder forstudents to get the degrees they need tocompete in the workforce.

Congress recently began to investigatethis issue, but students can alsomake a difference. Write to your localrepresentative about it. If you decide notto buy a textbook because it’s too expensive,write to the publisher and let themknow that price was a factor. Tell professorsif the textbook they’ve assigned hasan unreasonably steep price tag. Or, bestof all, cut out the bookstore and use theInternet to fi nd student-run trading siteswhere books can be purchased for lessand sold for more.