SU should use student feedback to ease textbook costs on campus

As textbooks become more expensive, Syracuse University officials should come up with strategies to ease the costs for students.

Between 2002 and 2012, textbook prices rose 6 percent each year, according to a June report published by the Government Accountability Office. This is yet another financial burden with which college students must deal.

To mitigate rising fees and help students afford these educational supplements, SU faculty and staff members should critically assess how essential each textbook is to its respective course.

In addition, there needs to be a clear distinction between the purpose of a recommended textbook and a required textbook. While a recommended textbook in one class might help a student better understand course material, it might be an unnecessary financial burden for others.

A textbook should be considered required if students will be tested on the material or will need to complete homework from it.

Faculty should draw a line between these two types of textbooks. They should also inform students weeks before the semester begins which textbooks will play an essential part in grasping the course’s concepts.

To determine whether textbooks should be required or recommended, the various departments should consult students who have taken the classes.

Engaging them through end-of-semester class evaluations could provide evidence to determine how necessary certain textbooks are in specific courses. These evaluations would give students the opportunity to rate both their professor’s performance, and also the importance and value of the textbooks. This could prevent future purchases of potentially superfluous class materials.

The questions within these evaluations would ask how much a student used the textbook and if it should continue to be used in the class. This could determine whether a textbook should be required or recommended based on how often students used them, were tested on their content or referred to them to complete homework.

This may not result in the removal of the textbook altogether, but it would provide insight into the necessity of the text in a specific course.

While the university cannot change the publishing industry’s mounting price of textbooks, it can make students’ lives easier by looking into how essential certain texts actually are in the classroom environment.

This could save students from yet another financial burden in higher education.