by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman

Kids in college these days who have to deal with high tuition and other big expenses are being hit with yet another financial burden.

Publishers and schools are working together to produce customized textbooks, adding professors’ requirements  to texts and creating a somewhat new book, limiting the opportunity for students to buy used books. Marie Wagoner, enrolled at the University of Alabama reports that her basic book costs are already $1200 annually.

Thousands of students are affected by this trend.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the custom-text business has grown to 12% of the college text market, which is currently at $3.5 billion.

Colleges say that the royalties they receive on the textbooks are used to pay for graduate students to attend conferences and underwrite teaching awards; but students believe that they are paying the price.

Thirty-four states have recently passed legislation to control the textbook cost industry. If we want more young people to go to college, efforts should be made to make it easier not harder to manage the costs.