Virginia's textbook example

Cripes -- textbooks are getting expensive! Why, in an informal poll among us here at the editorial board HQ and former Texas book depository (not the one Kennedy was shot from -- the other one), we found that in our college careers we had spent the following on textbooks: $240,568.06, three diamond tiaras, a 1968 Dodge Charger, the Maltese Falcon, six livers (four were our own), three pints of sperm, a labridoodle named "Peaches," a flock of pygmy goats and a fully furnished lean-to, the starting lineup of the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, a glass eyeball taped to a stick (for looking around corners), five sensual foot massages, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, one and 3/4 immortal souls, the greater part of the Lesser Antilles and a signed picture of IDS editor in chief Rick Newkirk himself -- you know, that one where he's bronco-busting with his shirt off.\nWell, OK, that's an exaggeration -- we never had a labridoodle named "Peaches." But you get the idea. Textbooks have never been cheap, but of late they've trended toward "Yipes!" In fact, a report by the Government Accountability Office found that in the last two decades, textbook prices rose at twice the rate of \ninflation, tapping the average full-time four-year college student for nearly $900 a year.\nSo, you can imagine our excitement when we read that efforts are afoot in the Commonwealth of Virginia to get a handle on these costs. Last year, the Textbook Market Fairness Act, sponsored by Delegate Glenn Oder of the 94th district, resulted in legislation requiring public colleges and universities to post reading lists online (for comparison shopping) and to block profs from exchanging textbook assignments for publishers' incentives. This year, Oder's back for a sequel: HB1478, which reached Virginia's state Senate Wednesday. According to the Roanoke Times and the Virginian Pilot, if passed, this bill would mandate (1) that campus bookstores "unbundle" textbooks -- that is, offer textbooks without CD-ROMs, workbooks, propeller beanies and the other assorted bollocks you never use; (2) that profs submit book lists early to aid shopping around; (3) that school libraries have copies available for borrowing; (4) that faculty be encouraged to favor suitable, older editions over new ones without substantive changes; and (5) that university presses direct their revenues back to financial aid, student activities or book store improvements.\nWhew -- got all that? In short, all this legislatin' looks toward giving students options that'll let us hang onto a bit more of our filthy lucre. And while it's too early to tell whether it'll have much of an impact, we hope our representatives up in Indy are paying attention. Because, given all our other college expenses, we could use the scratch. It'd especially be nice to reduce students' pressure to take a job on top of school and activities. Here at the IDS, we could even afford to get our livers back. And that would just be super.