It's not fraud. It's an monopoly market created by the University. The University is making the selections, but they don't have to pay for them, so there's financial pressure for them to pick cheaper alternatives or negotiate the price.

I would change the structure to set a flat "book fee" that's including in the tuition for each class. The fee is the same no matter what the class which some exceptions for lab classes and others with special materials. The school then must then negotiate with the publishing companies to get the materials for that fee or they lose money on the deal. That makes it the same organization selecting and paying for the books.

In my opinion it's not that the college's tuitions are so expensive, its the cost of books and material. My son is a soph. and it is not unusual to spend $400-500 each semester on these things, and that sometimes includes buying used books. The companies that provide these books and supplies know that they have a captive audience and can charge anything that they want. They should all be charged with fraud and deceit.

If they were, then they wouldn't have to turn people away every semester. They also wouldn't be losing money on each student and expecting tax money to fill the gap.

What we really need is some competition in the text book market. The prices are ridiculous because you only have once choice, and they can charge whatever they want.