The cost of traditional textbooks has skyrocketed. The effect of this increase in cost, and the reasons for it, are somewhat different in higher education than in K-12 education. The cost of textbooks in higher education is usually borne directly by the students and their parents, and it is now a noticeable fraction of the total and rapidly increasing cost of higher education. The average cost of textbooks per year at one California community college is over $900—about 75 percent of community college tuition!