Rising textbook prices leave some asking when colleges will go digital

Students spend an average of $900 per year on textbooks according to BusinessWeek.

So would they support the new digital textbook movement during these harsh economic times?

"If it's a higher price-no. I can barely afford [textbooks] now," junior education major Darion Lewis said.

But once he heard textbooks that are $100 for the printed version and $50 for the digital version on sites such as CourseSmart and iChapters, he changed his answer.

"I'm all for it!" Lewis said.

By purchasing digital textbooks instead of printed textbooks, students can save 50 to 60 percent, University Bookstore Manager Beth Cain said. Just 40 to 80 textbooks out of 3,000 titles are offered digitally at The University of Memphis, but no digital book orders have been placed by professors.

"We're happy to sell it to them if they want a savings cost," Cain said. "We want to offer whatever is most cost effective for the student. It's not something we're opposed to at all."

While students save money initially, "digital textbooks are not always the cheaper option," said Charles Schmidt, director of public relations for the National Association of College Stores. Schmidt describes digital textbooks as being rented.

"If you have electronic textbooks, it will probably be cheaper up front, but you're not going to be able to keep it," he said.

Therefore, if students want to reference back to a textbook later after the semester ends or after graduation, digital textbooks don't provide that option. They disappear after the semester ends.

Because the book is "rented," he also said students will not be able to sell back their digital books as they can with printed textbooks.

But having a less expensive option for textbooks is a big push for students to shift toward the digital textbook movement.

Even with the possibility of cutting the yearly cost of textbooks, some students aren't convinced going digital is worth it.

"It would make people lazy," said freshman marketing management major DeAndra Kelley. "People already don't read enough now. They have no basic knowledge they would get from reading."

If students read printed textbooks already, freshman political science major Jessica Roman doesn't see how it would change students' reading habits if they were reading from a digital textbook. She said they're still reading the same material.

Roman had other questions about digital textbooks before she would fully commit to a side, printed or digital.

"What happens when your Internet goes out?" she asked. "It has its advantages and disadvantages."

There are also questions electronic publishing companies are asking, for example, what to do about pirating.

Textbook-downloading sites that illegally deal out copyrighted content are already in existence, and some, like TextbookTorrents.com, are already being shut down.

Students aren't against illegally downloading textbooks if it means saving money.

"I would do it because I download CDs all day, so I'll download books to," freshman Nursing major Kierra Cunningham said.

Some students also discussed how they would be able to copy other students' textbooks easier if the books were digital, which Schmidt said is a direct violation of copyright laws along with pirating.

While benefits and pitfalls of going digital are being tossed around, there still isn't much of an interest among universities.

Less than one percent of professors surveyed for NACS reported preferring digital over printed textbooks, while 18.5 percent of students prefer electronic textbooks.

"Professors are still bound to hard textbooks because they're used hard copies," Schmidt said.

Digital textbooks would benefit students with embedded video clips, audio tracks and hyperlinks to better understand a subject, providing more interaction for students. Although, even with its educational benefits, some students are reluctant because they don't read as digital content as well as a hard copy, Schmidt said.

Between professors and students, it's still a toss up if they'll accept the digital textbook movement.

"I don't think we'll ever get to that point where it's 100 percent because it'll be somewhat people's preference," Schmidt said. "There is no one silver bullet here."