GIMMICKS BLAMED FOR TEXTBOOK PRICE RISE.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

When it comes to textbook costs, college students are getting a lesson in ``Ripoff 101,'' according to a report released Thursday.

The study, conducted by the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) and its Oregon counterpart, OSPIRG, said textbook costs are increasing because publishers package textbooks with CD-ROMs and workbooks that jack up the price. It also found publishers generate costly new editions every three to four years, often adding very little new information.

``What we found is what students already know: Textbook prices are increasing and publishers' gimmicks are causing the problem,'' Mark Thornton, CALPIRG state chairman, told a news conference Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But Judith Platt, director of communications and public affairs for the Association of American Publishers, the national trade association of the book publishing industry, said publishers aren't to blame.

``This is all about choice,'' Platt said. ``Publishers offer professors and students a wealth of choices in selecting textbooks and ancillary materials. There is a broad continuum from very low-cost editions to fully loaded. The instructor chooses the textbooks and all the materials with them.''

College students now pay an average of $898 a year on textbooks, almost 20 percent of the average tuition and fees at a UC school, according to the study. A 1997 University of California study found students were spending only an average of $642.

``They're astronomically high,'' complained William Helseth, 20, of Reseda, a California State University, Northridge, computer engineering major. Helseth was on campus Thursday trying to get his books before classes start next week.

``I'm only buying three books, and this is about $300,'' Helseth added. ``It's ridiculous. We don't have money.''

Half of all textbooks now come ``bundled'' or shrink-wrapped with additional materials like CD-ROMs and workbooks that students rarely use, but drive up the cost, according to the CALPIRG study.

``It is appalling that the textbook industry is charging students for items they never use in class and forcing them to pay for them,'' said Thornton, 20, of Westwood, a history student at UCLA.

But Platt noted that students can buy ``unbundled'' versions, often by purchasing them online or at other bookstores.

Publishers also crank out new editions like clockwork - whether there's any new material to add or not - to make less expensive, used textbooks obsolete, Thornton said.

One textbook, James Stewart's ``Calculus,'' cost $122 for the 2003 fifth edition; a fourth edition published in 1999 could be purchased used for $20 to $90, Thornton said. The only difference between the two textbooks was that a few chapters had been consolidated and new math problems added.

Seventy-six percent of faculty surveyed said new editions are either ``never'' justified or are justified only ``half the time.''

``I brag that calculus is still being taught the same way it was 300 years ago,'' said Ronald Miech, vice chairman of UCLA's math department. ``Calculus is pretty much the way Newton invented it.''

But Platt said that in most subjects, students have to keep up with the increasingly fast-changing times.

``Pedagogy changes all the time,'' Platt said. ``Take a subject as staid as Principals of Accounting - would you want a book published before Enron?''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Cindy Cruz, 19, checks out the prices of business administration books at the CSUN bookstore.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer