Are Textbooks The New Pharmaceuticals?

High and rising drug prices have put the pharmaceutical industry under tremendous pressures to cut prices, provide subsidies, and defend their pricing structures. According to this LA Times article, the textbook industry could be next (When you can't afford to go buy the book via CJC Daily). The average price of a college textbook? $120. Prices have climbed at twice the rate of inflation for the last 20 years, according to a GAO report, leading to a June hearing on the issue and state legislative actions. Just 35 percent of college students now buy all the books they're supposed to. But they're still spending over $900 a year on books and supplies each year. Online-only editions, and black and white versions, are some of the newer cost-saving measures that are being tried.