A new report says that textbook costs are so high hey are impacting the class choices students are making.

However, the textbook publishers dispute the findings. Inside Higher Ed’s Allie Grasgreen has this analysis:

Despite some recent improvement in textbook market options and transparency, rising prices continue to hinder students who, in the worst scenarios, are turning down classes because the materials are too expensive.

“The problem is as dire as ever,” Ethan Senack, a higher education associate at the United States Public Interest Research Group, said in a conference call announcing the findings of the Student PIRGs’ latest report on textbook costs and how students are responding. “The federal government, states and most important, individual campuses, need to support and invest in alternatives outside of the traditional textbook market.”

The survey, which includes about 2,000 students from 150 campuses, indicates that while cheaper alternatives such as rental programs and open-source textbooks have gained traction in recent years, 65 percent of students had still opted against buying a book because it was too costly – and 94 percent of them were concerned that their grade would suffer because of it.

Another 48 percent of students said the cost of textbooks affected how many and which classes they took each semester. At the same time, 82 percent of students said free online access to a textbook (with the option of buying a hard copy) would help them do “significantly better” in a course. The paper therefore argues for widespread use of open textbooks, which are designed in this way and which PIRG estimates save students an average of $100 per course.

“Students should be focused on taking the classes they need, not kept out because they feel they have to choose between their textbooks and rent,” said Senack, the report’s author. “We know that if more campuses and if more states made the commitment … we would be able to save students millions in dollars per year.”

PIRG, whose previous reports have been disputed by textbook publishers, notes that a single textbook can cost more than $200, and that the College Board estimates that students will spend on average $1,200 on textbooks and other course supplies this year.

…But David Anderson, executive director of higher education at the Association of American Publishers, called the report “transparently biased and distorted.” For example, he said, how many of the 65 percent of students who didn’t buy a required textbook opted for a rental instead – and who’s to say they suffered academically because of it? (According to the research firm Student Monitor, close to 10 percent of students now rent textbooks, while half as many use ebooks.)

“I think it’s hard for the authors of this report on the one hand to laud the increased use of rentals and the increased availability of open source, and then not give you a breakdown of how they’re being used,” Anderson said.