Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Backgrounder

A Textbook Giant Is Going ‘Digital First.’ That Might Not Be Good for Affordability.

By Will Jarvis July 17, 2019
A textbook-rental program at a community college in Illinois
A textbook-rental program at a community college in IllinoisScott Anderson, NewsTribune via AP Images

Traditional textbook publishers are struggling. Secondary sellers like Amazon Marketplace have diverted business, and open-access resources like OpenStax and Lumen Learning are providing professors and students with free course materials. That has created a market in which Pearson, the world’s biggest textbook giant, cut thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in costs to stay afloat.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

A textbook-rental program at a community college in Illinois
A textbook-rental program at a community college in IllinoisScott Anderson, NewsTribune via AP Images

Traditional textbook publishers are struggling. Secondary sellers like Amazon Marketplace have diverted business, and open-access resources like OpenStax and Lumen Learning are providing professors and students with free course materials. That has created a market in which Pearson, the world’s biggest textbook giant, cut thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in costs to stay afloat.

If the road to textbook domination was once paved with paper, Pearson is betting the future will be digital. The publisher announced this week that it would transition to a digital-first model, wherein future textbook releases would be updated in digital formats on a continuing basis, rather than updating print titles every three years, as it had previously done.

The move comes at a time of uncertainty for Pearson. The publisher has more than 1,500 American titles but must compete with McGraw-Hill, which is slated to merge with Cengage, combining two of the country’s three largest textbook-publishing giants.

A digital-first strategy not only would cut costs at a time of increased competition, industry experts said, but it would also help clamp down on the challenge posed by websites like Amazon and Chegg, which have undercut publishers by reselling textbooks at significantly lower prices.

“This is less of an inflection and more of a milestone in a transition that’s been underway for a long time,” said Gates Bryant, a partner at Tyton Partners, an investment-banking and strategic-consulting firm focused on the education market.

Bryant said the continuous-update schedule would ensure content is up to date for faculty and students, with less confusion over which edition to buy. But some observers worry that, on the ground, the change will do little to make materials more affordable for students. Kaitlyn Vitez, director of the Make Higher Education Affordable Campaign at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said the move doubles down on a model that gives Pearson more opportunities to charge students for access to digital platforms requiring costly access codes.

Lost Revenue Cycles

Textbook costs have already grown exorbitant. According to the College Board, the average college student should budget more than $1,200 per year for textbooks and supplies, creating a barrier to entry for lower-income students. With about 80 percent of the market dominated by just five companies, prices on textbooks rose 1,041 percent — more than triple the rate of inflation — from 1977 to 2015, according to NBC’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Pearson announced its average e-book price would be $40, with a $70 price point for the “full suite of digital-learning tools.” The company has also transitioned into providing online programs such as MyLab and Mastering, platforms for professors to host homework assignments and administer courses.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mike Hale, vice president of North American education for VitalSource, a leading distributor of digital course materials, pointed to the resale market as one reason for publishers to raise prices. Pearson, for example, would put money and resources into producing a textbook, print it, make money on that first sale, then see revenue cycles continue in the secondary market without them.

“So they shorten the edition cycle, and they jack up the price just to keep the lights on,” Hale said. “By moving to digital, they remove the need to do that short revision cycle.”

To an extent, the move to digital would help cut off access to secondary markets. Digital textbooks would update, and courses could incorporate access codes built into the platform, effectively rendering older textbooks outdated. For Pearson and other publishers, that’s good business. But in the eyes of advocates for affordable education, it’s a cause for concern.

“We know that today’s students increasingly use social media and technology in the classroom,” Vitez said, “but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want the flexibility of print options.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Even with Pearson promising more affordable e-books in the short term, “we have no guarantees that prices are going to stay at that rate,” she said.

Inclusive Access

A key component of Pearson’s digital-first strategy is its partnerships with colleges, in which textbook prices are baked into tuition or student fees (at lower-than-market prices). Called inclusive-access programs, the partnerships obligate students to pay for access to short-term, expiring platforms that host homework assignments and other course materials, with the ability to opt out.

Those who do opt out, Hale said, lose access to the online textbooks and course materials.

ADVERTISEMENT

Pearson, Hale said, “is going all in on inclusive access, as is every other publisher.”

In theory, it hopes to eliminate an issue Vitez cited from a U.S. PIRG study: 65 percent of students reported skipping a book purchase because of cost, even though 94 percent said they knew the move would affect their grade. The hope is that students have access to all course materials on Day 1.

Nicholas Sengstaken, a rising senior and chief of staff for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s undergraduate-student government, worried that in practice “the oligopoly is simply strengthening itself.” Sengstaken, an on-campus coordinator for NCPIRG, led a student-government resolution against the policy, which was set to be put in place at North Carolina. (The university is still in the process of determining its program.)

“Pearson moving toward all-digital content is just another example of them moving toward policies and products which promote their profit margins rather than the interest of students,” Sengstaken said. “It’s only going to decrease the amount of affordable options.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Pearson itself has acknowledged the issue of textbook affordability — it cited access to affordable higher-education learning materials as a reason for the digital transition — but Vitez said she had “a hard time believing that the companies that caused this affordability crisis in the first place are going to be the ones to solve it.”

To that, Hale said, the counterpoint is pretty simple: “If they don’t help solve it, they’re not going to exist. And that’s a business decision for them.”

Correction (7/18/2019, 11:10 a.m.): This article has been updated to correct a sentence, attributed to Gates Bryant, that suggested the updated textbooks would provide more revenue to Pearson.

Will Jarvis is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter @willyfrederick, or email him at will.jarvis@chronicle.com.

A version of this article appeared in the August 2, 2019, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Scholarship & Research
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

Planned Merger of Cengage and McGraw-Hill Could Remake College-Textbook Market

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin