Students Are Spending Less on Textbooks, but That’s Not All Good

With all of the talk about the high cost of college textbooks and the buzz about free online alternatives, it is surprising how little is understood about how much students spend on required course materials.

The popular wisdom is not only that textbook costs are high ($1,200 a year per student, according to one oft-cited report), but that they are rising rapidly (three times the rate of inflation in a 40-year period, say some reports).