Association of American Publishers Highlights Ways to Help Students Succeed and Reduce Their Costs

Thursday, 21 October 2010 | J. Bruce Hildebrand

Association of American Publishers President and CEO Tom Allen released the following statement in light of Student PIRG’s announced “Day of Action” for Oct. 21, during which they plan to meet with faculty to discuss textbook prices:

“America’s higher education publishers are producing cutting edge materials in digital formats that improve student success rates and reduce student costs. The latest publisher technologies, for example, allow students to access e-textbooks or just specific chapters of an online textbook. Publishers also offer low-cost editions, custom textbooks and rentals so that students can get the high quality educational materials that fit their learning and budget needs.

“Many people don’t realize that student spending on college course materials has been flat or declining since 2006. The average four-year college student spent $659 last year on textbooks, down seven percent from the prior year, according to a recent independent study by Student Monitor.

“High quality course materials are essential to student success in a knowledge-based economy. The rapidly evolving higher education digital market is doing what the student PIRGs have long advocated—producing lower costs for educational materials. But they are also improving student performance, and that should matter to every student and every parent.

“Success in American higher education depends on using materials of high quality at reasonable cost. Publishers will continue to collaborate with the higher education community to help students and universities keep their costs down and improve student success rates.”

To learn more about how publishers are helping students succeed, go to http://www.solutionsforstudentsuccess.org.

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The Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP’s Higher Education group represents the needs and interests of member publishers who produce instructional materials including textbooks and digital products and services for the post-secondary educational market.