Why Your Raise Is Finally Beating the Cost of a College Textbook

Wages and Prices with Fexingo: Cost of Living, Pay Raises, and Workers' Purchasing Power · Jul 21, 2026 · 8m · transcript

For years, college textbook prices rose faster than almost anything else — up triple the rate of inflation for decades. But a quiet shift is underway: average hourly earnings hit $37.60 in June, while textbook costs have actually fallen 8% since 2019, thanks to the rise of open educational resources, digital rentals, and used-book marketplaces. Lucas and Luna examine the data behind this reversal, from the $400 biology tome to the free PDF that replaced it, and what it means for the 19 million students heading back to campus this fall. They also explore why textbook publishers like Pearson…