The elimination of sales tax on academic materials is only one way to reduce textbook prices.
By Naomi Hofferber
For college students, the cost of textbooks can range from under $100 to more than $1,000, depending on course load and the selection by professors.
To try to relieve some of the financial stress of purchasing textbooks, officials have eliminated the sales tax on textbooks in the IMU Hawk Shop as of this semester.
The University of Iowa Student Government facilitated the change. With state appropriations for the UI on the decline, UISG President Rachel Zuckerman said, there is little UISG can do to reduce the financial burden of tuition.
“We’ve been turning to non-tuition expenses — things such as housing, food, and textbooks — as a way to hopefully save students money on their college experience,” she said.
Zuckerman said there was a provision in the Iowa Tax Code exempting academic materials from the sales tax.
The provision allows the 6 percent tax on academic materials to be eliminated, and that has gone into effect in the Hawk Shop. Profits from items sold in the store go toward the IMU budget.
“It won’t make much difference on our operations, but it will make a difference to the average student at the university,” said Bradley Bridges, the director of IMU Financial Management and Auxiliary Services. “It will put some money back into the students’ pockets.”
Zuckerman said along with eliminating the sales tax, UISG is looking for additional ways to save students money on academic materials.
“This is something that we’re always looking at … textbook affordability,” she said. “I’d say there’s significant pressure from different areas of the institution for faculty materials to find affordable textbooks if not free academic materials.
“Another push that I think needs to happen and is kind of starting is making sure faculty are only requiring materials they intend to use and fully use them.”
While the Hawk Shop has eliminated sales tax, Iowa Book, 8 S. Clinton St., a popular textbook provider, cannot.
“[Legislators] in Des Moines would be the ones to say, ‘Yeah, you can do it,’ ” said Virgil “Scooter” Hare, the Iowa Book textbook manager. “The Hawk Shop is owned by the University of Iowa, and until we’re told otherwise, we have to collect sales tax. We’d like to think that that 6 percent goes into the general-education fund that helps fund the regional universities.”
Both the Hawk Shop and Iowa Book want to expand online and e-book materials, something Zuckerman said could help with textbook affordability.
“We don’t choose what book students use for class; professors choose them,” Bridges said. “It’s a unique business where one person chooses what the consumer purchases, and there’s not a lot of conversation. We like to bring choices to each student.”