Instructors face writing woe to save students’ dough
by Diana De Leon, feature editor

(Part one in a three-part series on textbook costs.)

   Some instructors and professors are fighting the high cost of education by writing their own textbooks to save students money.

   Richard Powell, a NW Campus music instructor, wrote a textbook that covers music appreciation and music history.

   “It took me five years to write, but it was needed,” he said.

   Students often contend with the high cost of textbooks when enrolling in a class, and options are limited for some students.

   Powell said many of his students asked if they could take the classes without the textbooks because they could not afford them.

   “It was pretty regular, and our numbers were dropping,” he said.

   Powell took out fancy graphics and pictures and wrote his book to mirror his lectures, which he thinks helps the student more than a traditional textbook.

   “The original textbook had lots of graphics and pictures and came with a CD, and the package cost students more than $80 for one class textbook,” he said.

   Powell’s textbook, A Guide to Music History and Appreciation, costs students $30 and covers two separate classes.

   “It is just text, nothing fancy,” he said.

   The textbook is being used this semester for the first time on NW Campus only because the bugs need to be worked out of it, Powell said .
   Powell also has addressed CD usage and has made many CDs available in the library and in the music room. He is currently working on more options for his students.

   “We have the highest enrollment this semester,” he said, “I like to think it has something to do with the textbook.”

   Students do have a few options when it comes to textbook purchases: the Internet, bookstores and student exchanges.

   However, such options were not available to students in the ’70s when Charles Smith and Don Jones, physical education teachers, wrote a textbook for the NE Campus PHED program.

   “It was ridiculous how expensive school textbooks were,” Smith said. “Now the prices are astronomical.”

   Exercise Just for the Health Of It now is in its third edition and has been updated every four to five years.

   Smith, chairman of the NE health and physical education department, said students should have a low-cost manual available to them.

   Lone Star Politics is a textbook by three TCC teachers who wrote with the student in mind.

   Paul Benson, assistant professor of government and history, was asked by a publisher to write the book.

Dave Clinkscale, associate professor, and Tony Giardino, instructor, from South Campus collaborated with Benson on Lone Star Politics.

   “‘I actually read your book’ is the biggest complement I get,” Benson said.

   Benson’s goal was to write something that the students could read, understand and afford.

   The textbook was completed in four months, which is unheard of in the textbook publishing field.

   “It was an insane time to get this done,” he said. “It does save money for the students.”

   Lone Star Politics has been used at Texas A & M and at community colleges around the state; the third edition is being printed now.

   Benson is currently working with a colleague on a U.S. government textbook and has plans for a Texas history textbook.

   With enrollment at TCC growing, the demand for low-cost textbooks will rise, and students will use other sources for the purchase of textbooks.

   Instructors and professors who take matters into their own hands are finding the process easier with publishers who offer custom services and on-demand publishing, which saves money for the buyer and the seller.

(Next: Surfing the Internet for bargain texts.)