Cut Coursepack Costs

This summer, Harvard Printing and Publication Services (HPPS) went under, blaming its failure on an unsustainable business model and leaving behind many unemployed workers. The closing left precious few months to find an alternative solution for courses using HPPS to print their coursepacks, so Harvard’s Procurement Management Department (PMD) chose XanEdu, a division of ProQuest Information and Learning, as the new printer and the Harvard Coop as the new distributor. For succeeding so quickly, all parties involved deserve praise. But in light of nagging cost-related questions, we hope that the PMD ensures that it made the wisest partnerships in its upcoming review of these new business relationships.

For the most part, coursepack distribution has gone smoothly this semester. As usual, the Coop is responsive about procuring additional coursepacks when necessary (as with materials for this year’s massive Moral Reasoning 22, “Justice”). The only differences most students are likely to notice are the lack of an option to termbill coursepacks and the appearance of a new, non-spiral-bound variety of coursepack that invariably costs more than seems reasonable.

Still, anecdotal accounts from professors are hard to ignore. Lecturer on Sociology David L. Ager slammed the Coop in class for marking up the coursepack for Sociology 109, “Leadership and Organizations,” by more than 20 percent. Associate Professor Eric W. Robinson of History 10a, “Western Societies, Politics, and Cultures from Antiquity to 1650,” said in one of his first lectures that he expected the coursepack to cost $50. The Coop ended up selling it for $80. Every Harvard student is familiar with the endless litany of professorial rage directed at the Coop’s prices at the beginning of every semester. Some of it is undeserved. For instance, the Coop makes its lowest margins on textbooks, according to Coop President Jerry P. Murphy ’73, and unforeseen costs can crop up at the last minute. All of this is not to say that the Coop isn’t the best choice for distributing some coursepacks. With its central location and large size, the Coop is probably the only choice for courses like the aforementioned “Justice.” But for smaller courses, there are clearly other options which the PMD must explore.

Malkin Professor of Public Policy Robert D. Putnam may be a trailblazer in this regard. Sold at the Coop (and printed by XanEdu) last year, Putnam’s coursepack this semester can be ordered exclusively online, and it comes from University Readers, a company that clears copyrights, prints, and distributes coursepacks all from under one roof. The company even provides PDFs of the first few articles until students receive their coursepacks in the mail. Along with diligent use of e-resources and the cutting of some items, this alternative printer helped Putnam reduce the price of his coursepack from $464.50 to under $200 this year.

Less than two weeks ago, we outlined steps professors should take to reduce the cost of coursepacks. Linking to e-resources instead of including articles (and their attendant copyright costs) in coursepacks is one easy way for professors to help students save on course materials. The burden should not fall on professors alone, however. Now that most of the coursepacks have been distributed for the semester, the PMD can begin reviewing what went wrong and what went right, and formulating plans to keep costs down for the coming years.

During this month’s review period, the PMD should look at tailoring coursepack solutions to individual classes. These solutions can cut costs by eliminating the middle-men. In our “business on demand” age, there is no need for professors to use New England-based printers (the only options currently listed on the PMD’s website) and distributors. If Putnam’s example using University Readers, a California-based company, proves anything, it is that there are numerous competitors in the coursepack business that do a perfectly acceptable job.

The PMD should harness this competition. It should widen its list of “Print Partners” to include out-of-region options based on positive feedback from the professors who have used them. That way, courses with professors and head TFs who have the time and motivation to shop around their article lists can get quotes from many different companies, not just Gnomon and the Coop, potentially leading to lower costs. We doubt, at least at first, that many course leaders will expend the effort to do this. Instead, they will take the easiest path and continue using the HPPS-alternative that the PMD arranges. Here, the PMD can use the sheer amount of coursepack business it is representing to drive down printing and distribution prices for all coursepacks. The PMD should submit sample article lists from this year’s coursepacks to multiple printers and distributors. And as it calculates the best option, it should weight convenience far less than price. We suspect every student at Harvard would be willing to wait a week for a coursepack to be shipped (while reading PDFs online) in exchange for a 65 percent cost reduction.

In light of the closing of HPPS, the PMD, XanEdu, and the Coop have done a tremendous job filling the void. The PMD succeeded in its search for HPPS’ replacement, and the Coop took on a tremendous amount of business in a short time span. Going forward, the PMD can and must aggressively cut coursepack costs by exploiting market competition. Anything less would be a disservice to students.