Aug. 20 Daily News editorial

A Stamford, Conn.-based college textbook publisher recently announced plans to offer students the option of renting its books at 40 percent to 70 percent less than retail price. Cengage Learning said it will make several hundred titles available starting in December.

Any move within the college textbook publishing industry to lower costs is appreciated. The high price of textbooks college and university instructors often require for their courses is a major source of frustration for cash-strapped students and their families.

Textbook prices have risen four times the rate of inflation over the past decade, according to the Washington Student Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). Students in this state pay, on average, $900 a year for textbooks and other course materials. That can be tough on a family budget, particularly in this economy.

Cengage Learning will get favorable reviews from many students and their parents for providing this rental option, no doubt. But the publisher’s motives aren’t entirely altruistic. Students already can rent some second-hand textbooks through various Web sites. But publishers have largely been cut out of this rental market, according to The Associated Press. By renting directly to students, Cengage Learning stands to collect money several times on one printed copy, earning more than it would in a one-time sale.

We suspect other textbook publishers will soon follow Cengage Learning’s lead. They likely will be forced to change their ways by a fast-changing market. This is an industry under considerable stress. The headline for an Aug. 8 New York Times article on the use of computers in the classroom is a chilling summation of where this industry appears to be headed: “In a Digital Future, Textbooks Are History.”

“Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet,” wrote Times reporter Tamar Lewin, “but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web.”

“Free” would be bad for the college textbook publishers, but very good for students and their families.

We find it difficult to work up much sympathy for this industry, given its past practices. Until 2007, the Washington Legislature stepped in on behalf of students, requiring that publishers disclose the intended price of their books and other materials to college and university instructors upon request.

That’s right, textbook publishers often keep instructors in the dark as to the cost of the texts they are considering for use in their courses. A 2006 WashPIRG survey of faculty in the state showed that 77 percent of those surveyed said publisher sales representatives “rarely” or “never” volunteered price information. Publishers clearly found this approach profitable.

College students here and around the nation have paid dearly to generate the textbook industry’s profits for too long. It’s good to learn that the grip this industry has had on student pocketbooks is beginning to loosen, if only by degrees.