Key findings from the Textbook Costs Impact Survey are now available on the SCALE website. The survey was distributed by PASCAL via member libraries in March 2023 to investigate the impact of textbook costs on South Carolina college and university students. A total of 778 students from 19 institutions responded during the survey period (March – Mary 2023).
It’s been widely reported that textbook costs have risen dramatically over the past two decades. From January 2000 to June 2022, the cost of textbooks increased 162 percent, far higher than the average overall inflation rate of 74.4 percent during that same period. The negative impacts students face due to high textbook costs have also been documented via multiple large scale student surveys, including the 2022 Student Textbook and Instructional Materials Survey conducted by Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) and the Virginia Course Materials Survey, conducted by VIVA, Virginia’s academic library consortium in 2021. However, until now, data from South Carolina students was lacking. The findings from the Textbook Costs Impact Survey align closely with these larger, regional studies in demonstrating the negative behaviors that students engage in when faced with high course materials costs. Notably, 82% of respondents reported that they had not purchased some or all materials required for a course, and 39% reported they had taken fewer courses in a semester due to textbook costs.
Although the 778 responses collected make up only a small sample of South Carolina’s higher education students, the responses received, particularly the hundreds of comments collected through the survey, clearly demonstrate the difficulties SC college students face due to high textbook costs.
Read the Key Findings from the Textbook Costs Impact Survey.
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