‘Not a cute price’: Students Push Back Against Textbook Costs

For Loyola students, the start of a new semester means purchasing reading materials, which on average cost about $174 for college courses. With the price of textbooks increasing an average of 6% each year and doubling every 11 years, students said they use a variety of methods to access their course materials. 

To manage costs, students often turn to resale sites, used textbooks, shared copies or digital alternatives, with 66% of students nationwide buying used copies and 48% finding free versions online, according to a study by the 2023 National Survey on Student Course Material Affordability. 

Second-year biology major Addison Nakanishi said the financial strain is becoming harder to ignore.  She said she thought she knew how much she spent on required materials last term, but when she took a closer look at her receipts and online purchases, the total surprised her. 

In total, she spent about $200 to $300 across six textbooks this semester. 

Students across majors nationwide reported similar experiences, with 65% of college students nationwide opting out of textbook purchases due to their price, according to a study by the Education Data Initiative.

Professor of Media Law Bastiaan Vanacker said he sees the benefits of assigning textbooks for class, but also said he’s cognisant of the strain it may put on his students. 

“It’s somewhat convenient to have a textbook because you only have one source,” Vanacker said. “But unfortunately, sometimes it’s not always possible.” 

Nakanishi said spending hundreds of dollars each semester on required books and online materials — which for her ranges from three to as many as six or more — isn’t sustainable. 

“It’s not a cute price,” Nakanishi said. 

Second-year English and film major Mary Becker said her textbook expenses are inconsistent but often heavy, depending on the classes she’s taking. 

“[As an] English major, there are a lot more required books,” Becker said. “Probably maybe one for each class.”

In literature-heavy semesters, Becker said books can easily exceed $100 per title, a price which can feel disproportionate to the value she gets from them. 

“I think it’s crazy how much the bookstore will upcharge for certain books, which is especially hard when you can’t really find better prices anywhere else,” Becker said. “It’s like, why am I paying so much for these books?” 

Even when she finds digital options on open-source websites, Becker said she prefers physical textbooks. 

“It’s unfortunate because having physical books is such an important medium — not doing all my readings online and being able to get away from my laptop,” Becker said. 

One resource which has become well known among students is Anna’s Archive, an online repository which aggregates links to books, academic texts and other written materials — often at no cost to the 31.8 million users — accumulating to about 2.1484 petabytes of data, or 16% of the world’s books as of January, according to Anna’s Archive’s personal datasets. 

Anna’s Archive did not respond to The Phoenix’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Becker’s a part of this crowd. She said she’s turned to Anna’s Archive and similar sites, though she also expressed caution due to the potential for computer viruses in the downloading process. 

As a professor of Media Law, Vanacker said he can’t promote the use of alternative sources to acquire textbooks, but added he won’t police his students. 

“I’m not interested in how students get access to their text,” Vanacker said, “I’m interested that they do their reading.”

Anna’s Archive has recently faced legal uncertainty. Many rights holders in the music industry, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking up to $13 trillion in statutory damages, according to NME. 

This semester, Becker said she didn’t have to spend any additional money on textbooks as she found all her necessary books online. 

Second-year accounting student Alexis Bubela said some students experience financial stress due to the cost of textbooks. She herself spent about $250 total this semester on three required texts.

Becker said she spends similar amounts on textbooks each semester, making the appeal of saving even $100 through a free PDF significant. 

Nakanishi said part of her frustration stems from how textbooks are used in class. For some courses, she said, materials sit unused for long stretches, a reality which can make a high price tag feel even harder to justify. 

“The STEM department is flipped learning,” Nakanishi said.“I feel like a lot of teachers are currently cheating out in a way by doing flipped learning instead of actually lecturing in class. I feel like if we’re paying like $100 or more for a textbook, it shouldn’t be flip learning. It’s my hot take.” 

Flipped learning is a teaching method that reverses the traditional classroom function by delivering instructional content, such as textbooks or online resources, outside of the classroom to then be brought in as homework or discussion topics, according to Harvard University. 

While the lawsuit against Anna’s Archive centers on copyrighted materials, the broader legal uncertainty raises questions about how long platforms like Anna’s Archive will remain accessible and what this could mean for students who rely on them.

“I think some books are a little pricey for what they are,” Beck said. “I do appreciate any online websites that are resale.” 

Students like Becker said those costs come on top of already high tuition and living expenses. At Loyola, tuition is $56,930, with housing costing up to $18,572, according to the Loyola University website. 

To students like Beck, textbooks may add strain. 

“With how much I’m also paying for Loyola, having to pay probably $100 for textbooks is insane, and I’d rather just find them for free,” Becker said. 

Editor’s note: Opinion Editor Ari Shanahan contributed reporting.