Report 2007-116 Recommendation 22 Responses

Report 2007-116: Affordability of College Textbooks: Textbook Prices Have Risen Significantly in the Last Four Years, but Some Strategies May Help to Control These Costs for Students (Release Date: August 2008)

Recommendation #22 To: University of California

To increase awareness and transparency about the reasons campus bookstores add markups to publishers' invoice prices for textbooks, UC, CSU, and the community colleges should reevaluate bookstores’ pricing policies to ensure that markups are not higher than necessary to support bookstore operations. If the campuses determine that bookstore profits are needed to fund other campus activities, the campuses should seek input from students as necessary to determine whether such purposes are warranted and supported by the student body, particularly when higher textbook prices result.

60-Day Agency Response

According to UC, its campus bookstores set and review pricing policies in order to ensure that textbook markups stay within a range necessary to support bookstore operations and to keep textbooks within a reasonable price range to students. UC indicated that campus bookstores have pricing programs that are reviewed by governing or advisory boards that comprise students, staff, and faculty. UC added that these boards review revenues and the use of revenues as well. (See 2010-406, p. 156)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2007-116

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.