The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Brown Amid student complaints of unreasonable textbook prices, students, professors and administrators are considering a proposal that would draw from an increase in tuition dollars and level book costs for students.

Responding to rising textbook costs and a number of student complaints, the Macalester College Student Government this semester has begun to discuss a potential plan to lower textbook prices with professors and administrators. The proposal would cause tuition costs for students who do not receive financial aid to rise by about $585, which would go toward subsidizing textbook costs for all students.

In a recent MCSG survey of 400 students, a quarter said they had encountered difficulties in purchasing textbooks due to financial constraints and a third said they are "still worried about it." Sixty percent replied that they often did not have their books within a few days after the beginning of class. Almost 30 percent of the surveyed students said that, on at least one occasion, they did not buy a required book at all.

"There's an assumption that students are having to make a choice and are forgoing textbooks," Dean of Students Jim Hoppe said.

Academic Affairs Commission chair Alison Tray '09 approached Mathematics professor Danny Kaplan to discuss methods for making textbooks more accessible to students.

Tray and Kaplan, who served on the Minnesota legislature's Textbook Advisory Task Force, focused primarily on presenting a plan that would make books immediately available to students, regardless of their financial situation.

"Professor Kaplan had this idea that works like a medical insurance policy," Tray said. "You make an initial payment and then just have to pay the co-pay for actual services."

The proposal has not appeared in formal print, and has only taken form in discussions. The administration, Hoppe said, is now considering the issue, but has not moved past that initial phase of deliberation.

According to Kaplan and Tray, some students on need-based financial aid currently receive $900 in addition to their grant money to pay for supplies and textbooks. Under the plan, students who receive the $900 grant would receive 65 percent less to offset a corresponding tuition increase of $585 for students who do not receive financial aid.

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