Written by: Megan Yoshioka and Madison Reinschmidt
Various students on Southern Adventist University’s campus have expressed frustrations over the extra book costs and fees for classes. According to Finn Knauss, senior business administration student, he has recently interacted with multiple students who complained about classes that rely on online learning platforms that cost extra, such as Cengage and Pearson.
“In general, students are totally fine paying for textbooks because it is usually possible to find them used or for a lower cost than retail price,” wrote Knauss in an email to the Accent. “The issue with platforms like Cengage is that students have no choice but to buy the full-priced book because it is required to access course material like quizzes, homework and tests. Students feel upset that, while in addition to course fees and textbook fees, the cost of actual interactive course material falls on them.
Knauss compared the textbook scenario at Southern to his previous college, which, according to him, covered a lot of book costs and fees within the tuition.
“The reason I’ve noticed it is just coming from another university where a lot of this stuff was included, as well as being more in touch with my own finances, which some students aren’t [and] some students are,” Knauss said. “But for the ones who are, this is a bigger issue. The professors, they’re just teaching a class. They have a limited budget, and they want to use the best resources. But, obviously, the school isn’t covering that, [and] they’re having to put it onto the students.”
Pubert Nkhono, junior business administration major, has also voiced his frustrations with issues regarding book costs and access.
“Most notably, Cengage has been a financial burden and not the most convenient platform for what it is priced at,” Nkhono said.
Knauss identified Business Computer Applications taught by Michael McClung as one of the classes that had extra class fees as well as Cengage costs. After hearing of the complaints students had about the book costs in his class, McClung, also the associate director of Information Technology, responded. McClung explained that rather than having students purchase three textbooks and subscriptions to other programs such as Word and Excel, totaling around $400, he decided to have students pay for Cengage material, which costs around $90.
“I really want to do what’s best for the students, and ultimately, that was Cengage,” McClung said. “One really beautiful thing about Cengage is that it gives instant feedback. I feel like students learn better that way. I could have them just do this from scratch, send it to me, [and] I’ll grade it. But then there’s not that opportunity to learn as far as what they missed.
“When you [the Accent] sent me that the student was … express[ing] concern about us, … I was a little hurt by that because I know what I’ve done to decrease it from $400 down to $90,” McClung continued in an interview with the Accent. “So, I’m very cost conscious when it comes to that. But that’s been my goal the whole time: to make it as least expensive as possible.”
Also according to McClung, the extra class fees go toward the use of the business computer labs, which make assignments and exams easier to take through Windows computers, specifically.
“One of the benefits of integrating some of the digital platforms with eClass is that many textbooks come with additional resources, such as videos, practice activities and assessments, that a printed copy cannot provide,” said Gus Martin, associate professor of Online Campus.
Nkhono believes there are better ways to provide students with valuable class resources.
“I would propose that we look at other more affordable options, and perhaps [carry] out a survey that would provide students with an opportunity to express their opinions on whether or not platforms like Cengage and Pearson should be the only ones offered to us,” Nkhono said. “I believe this would contribute to Southern’s history of serving the students and valuing our feedback as they’ve done considerably well in the past.”
Many professors on campus use Cengage, including all of the speech classes taught by the School of Journalism and Communication, according to Associate Professor Lorraine Ball. While Ball finds online platforms to be convenient and rich with study resources, she has faced issues regarding the access codes for her Public Relations Principles and Theory class, in which she uses Pearson.
According to Ball, the access codes that the students ordered and received through mail didn’t provide the correct access for several students in the class. By the time the first test of the class came, some of the students were still unable to access their books. Ball repeatedly contacted the publisher to retrieve the access codes for the students. But in some cases, students had to purchase an additional hard copy book for it to work.
“I feel terrible for the students. I feel responsible,” said Ball, who, in one case, gave her personal copy of the textbook to a student to resolve the issue. “I choose the textbook because … it covers the spectrum that I need. I also looked for readability … [and] the kinds of things that you want the students to know at the end of the semester. So, I liked what Pearson had in terms of their textbook. But the bottom line is, I can only hope that the next experience [will] be good.”
Students also have complained about book distribution on campus and some professors requiring or recommending the purchase of their published books for their classes, and in some cases, selling the books directly to students.
“As students walk into the professor’s office, receive a book and then CashApp the professor, one can not help but feel there is a conflict of interest,” Knauss said.
The Accent has received student complaints about a perceived conflict of interest regarding Michael Hasel, a School of Religion professor who has been selling a textbook he has written to his classes. Knauss was one of those students. However, the other students were not willing to be named.
Hasel responded to the complaints about him directly selling the book, “Jerusalem: An Illustrated Archaeological Guide,” to students.
“When the university switched from the Campus Shop [now Southern Shoppe] to a centralized vendor some years ago, books were often not ordered on time by students or delayed by the vendor and did not arrive until weeks into the semester,” Hasel said. “Students can freely go to bookstores, including the ABC; but then they face a profit margin and pay full retail price for the books. I tell students that if they wish to purchase them directly from me at wholesale, they can save the mark-up. That is a savings of 20%. In this way, students can avoid the middleman, save money as well as get their books more efficiently.”
Hasel said he authored the book, and his wife, Giselle, a professor in the School of Visual Arts and Design, illustrated it. Hasel said he and his wife agreed to donate the money they receive from selling the book directly to students. Ten percent is tithed, 30% goes toward student assistantships and the rest is donated to charitable organizations such as It Is Written and Adventist Frontier Missions, according to Hasel in an interview with the Accent.
Robert Young, vice president of Academic Administration, also responded to the complaints.
“Professors have great latitude in selecting text for use in their classes,” Young wrote in an email to the Accent. “This is part of the academic freedom that every college and university provides [to] professor[s] who are experts in their fields. Professors will occasionally write a textbook for a particular class because the commercial books that are available do not meet the needs of the class. It is not generally a conflict of interest for the professor to have students purchase a text of this sort.”
Jud Lake, another professor in the School of Religion, has also included his published work as a recommended course material. However, he informs his students of the least expensive way to acquire their course materials and encourages those who are tight with money to use a library copy.
“I would defend a professor’s right to use a textbook that he or she has written for that class as long as it is affordable for the students,” Lake said in an email to the Accent. “It would be a conflict of interest if the professor was seeking to make a profit only. But if the desire is to provide the best content possible for a particular class, and the professor, as a specialist in that area, wrote a textbook, should he or she not use the textbook because it is a ‘conflict of interest?’ Admittedly, this is a sensitive subject, both for the student and the professor. The larger issue is that all professors require the best textbooks for the class that are, as far as possible, affordable for the students.”
