Forget "Big Oil"; Worry About "Big Textbook"

While most of us weren't paying attention, two or three educational publishers gobbled up all their competition. Try avoiding purchase from Pearson or McGraw-Hill, and you'll see what I mean. Now Trident is joining the club.

Not content with soaking students for "the constant issuing of new editions, then the 'custom editions' of textbooks just for Trident Tech students, cutting off competition with the global marketplace,"  publishers have put teeth into requiring digital forms instead. "The term for what Trident is doing is 'inclusive access,' and textbook publishers have been promoting the model since the U.S. Department of Education created a regulation in 2015 allowing schools to include book and supply costs in their tuition bills."

There's nothing inclusive about it. "In accordance with federal law, students can opt out of the inclusive access fee via their Desire2Learn web portal. But some courses will require students to complete assignments via web-based platforms that are included in the new fee. ISBN codes for comparable textbooks for the pilot courses are not yet available on the Trident bookstore website."

Choice? 

"Nationwide, about 3 to 5 percent of students in inclusive-access classes opt out of paying the automatic access fees, according to Jon Poole, Pearson’s vice president for strategic partnerships in the east region. That’s partly because the ebooks often come bundled with online programs that students need to complete class assignments. 'Most students want access to the digital content so that they can do their homework, so that they can communicate with the instructor,' Poole said. 'The ones who don’t often come back and opt back in after the evaluation period because they realize it’s hard to participate in the course without it.'"

Exclusive access, then.

No more selling those old textbooks or even revisiting content, since the text will magically disappear at the publisher's designated time.

"Skeptics worry that the emerging textbook business model is designed to eliminate competition with used textbook stores and online sellers, allowing a handful of powerful publishing houses to control the market and set prices with impunity."

No kidding?