College Textbooks: Wall Street’s New Cash Cow
For years, textbook prices have burdened students already struggling with loans and sky-high tuition costs. Now Wall Street is taking over the market, tightening its grip on a staple campus institution: the college bookstore.
College students are now buying their textbooks from Wall Street. (Leonard Ortiz / Digital First Media / Orange County Register via Getty Images)
As the fall semester ramps up, the nation’s college students are preparing to make a dreaded purchase: course textbooks, which can cost students hundreds of dollars per year.
For years, textbook prices have been rising many times faster than inflation, burdening students already struggling with loans and sky-high tuition costs. A single course textbook can cost $400; the average hardcover textbook is closer to $100. Used textbooks and e-books aren’t always much cheaper.
How did the college textbook market become so broken, forcing some students to skip meals and work overtime just to afford course materials? One culprit, advocates say, is Wall Street’s increasing control over a staple campus institution: the college bookstore.
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