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Higher Education Retail Market Facts and Figures 2008
The National Association of College Stores (NACS) plays a key role in serving its members by tracking relevant segments of the higher education retail market and reporting the latest findings. The major topics covered in the following pages are:
- College and Universities - General Information
- College Students - Demographics and Spending
- College Stores - Market Information
- College Textbooks - General Information
Colleges and Universities - General Information
Number of Institutions
The National Center for Education Statistics, Dept. of Education reported a total of 4,276 institutions of higher education in the United States. There is a 60/40 split between the type of institution and the years of study.
- 60% [2,583] are private colleges or universities
- 40% of the schools [1,693] are public institutions
- 60% [2,582] are four-year colleges or universities
- 40% [1,694] are two-year schools
School Size
Almost half (49%) of U.S. colleges and universities have enrollments between 1,000 and 10,000 students. Thirty-nine percent of institutions have enrollments of less than 1,000 students, and just 12% of colleges and universities have enrollments of more than 10,000 students. The top 100 campuses enroll about 20% of all students. The top ten campuses are listed below.
Schools with the Largest Enrollments
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University of Phoenix Online Campus Miami-Dade College Arizona State University Tempe University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Western International University Ohio State University - Main Campus University of Texas - Austin University of Florida Michigan State University Texas A&M University - College Station |
117,309 54,169 51,612 51,175 50,663 50,504 49,696 49,693 45,166 44,910 |
To see the full list, go the National Center for Education Statistics, Dept. of Education Fast Facts at www.nces.ed.gov/fastfacts.
Tuition and Fees
Average tuition and fees for the latest full academic year were $5,351 at public four-year schools and $1,935 at two-year schools. Private four-year colleges and universities average $19,292 per year for tuition and fees.
College Students - Demographics and Spending
Enrollment in Higher Education
The college student population is formed from a wide mix of consumers with substantial buying power. College enrollment continues to rise. There were 17.5 million college students in Fall 2005.
- 86% were undergraduates
- 63% of students attended four-year institutions
- 45% were between the ages of 15 and 21
- 31% were between the ages of 22 and 29
- 57% were women
- 62% of the total attended college or university full-time
Student Spending
In 2006-2007, students spent an average of $775 in the college store. The average reported for 2005-2006 was $763 per student.
The cost of books and supplies for the academic year does not vary much from two-year to four-year institutions, or from public to private schools. The expense for books and supplies rose from $801-$904 last year to $850-$942 for 2006-2007 according to figures reported by The College Board.
College Stores - Market Information
Size of the College Store Market
The National Association of College Stores estimated U.S. college store sales of $9.8 billion for the 2006-2007 academic year.
College stores sell a variety of items, ranging from textbooks to toothpaste. The percentage of sales in each category will vary by store depending on both the size of the school served and whether it is a two-year or four-year institution.
The following figures are provided to give an estimate of average product sales in the U.S. college store market, from largest to smallest segments.
| Required course materials | 56% | $5.543 billion |
| Computer products | 16% | 1.557 billion |
| Insignia merchandise | 13% | 1.233 billion |
| Other merchandise | 7% | .598 billion |
| Student supplies | 6% | .538 billion |
| General/trade books | 3% | .324 billion |
| 100.00% | $9.793 billion |
Number of College Stores
There are approximately 4,500 college stores serving 4,216 institutions in the United States and 200 college stores in Canada. Larger universities will often have several stores to serve students, smaller schools in a local area may be served by a single store, and several schools in an urban community may share multiple retail outlets. While many college stores share a common mission, they vary widely in size, location, ownership, and customer base.
As of Jan. 2008, NACS U.S. membership included 3,017 stores.
The largest percentage of stores are owned or operated by the institution. On-campus stores are mostly institutional, but they may also be contract managed, cooperatives, or student associations. Off-campus stores are typically privately owned.
Size of College Stores
Sales volume in college stores is determined by many factors, but the major influence on sales seems most closely tied to the size of the institution served. Average sales for college stores were $6 million. As seen in the following pie chart, the majority of college stores have less than $3 million in sales each year.
College store size in square feet also shows a wide range between the average and median. The average, based on U.S. college stores in the 2008 Financial Report, was 16,581 square feet. The more typical college store is probably closer to the median reported by all respondents, at 8,381 square feet.
College Store Profits / Contribution to Institution
According to the NACS College Store Industry Financial Report 2008, college stores returned an average net income of 8.3% of net sales to their institutions.
On top of this, they contributed an average of 5.3% of net sales to support campus activities such as scholarship funds, donations of merchandise, advertising dollars to school media, store revenue paid to institutional accounts, rent paid to the institution, non-store administrative salaries, alumni gifts, and many other such valuable contributions to the college or university.
Overall, college stores returned an average of 13.6% of sales back to their institution.
College Textbooks - General Information
Size of the U.S. College Textbook Market
The total U.S. college textbook / course materials market was estimated at $5.5 billion based on sales data for the 2006-2007 academic year.
NOTE: Textbook publishers have specific criteria to determine what they publish as a "textbook," as opposed to a trade or other category of book. College store sales of textbooks are based on requirements by a professor, regardless of format or type of publication, and including digital materials. For this reason, publisher sales data for "college textbooks" are not directly comparable to college stores' sales of new textbooks. Also, many college stores ring up custom coursepacks as new textbook sales, and do not use the separate Custom Publishing category in the survey. The survey form added a new sales category for reporting sales of digital materials and electronic clickers in 2006.
New vs. Used Textbooks
The textbook market is made up of four segments—new texts; used texts; custom-published materials, or course packs; and course technology. Course technology sales were added in the 2006 survey questionnaire and were not sufficient in number to report a percent of sales.
| 2006-2007 New texts |
40.8% |
| Used texts | 17.1% |
| Course packs | 1.1% |
| Course technology | 0.0% |
| Total Course Materials: | 59.0% |
The above percentages are based on U.S. market estimates.
Average Price of Required Course Materials
Tracking book prices is a difficult and labor-intensive process, especially at a national level. Based on sales of 7 million new textbooks and 3.5 million used textbooks, the average price for new and used books required for class were:
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| New: | $53 | $53 |
| Used: | $44 | $48 |
See where the money spent on "new" textbooks goes:
U.S. Version (PDF) | Canadian Version (PDF)
College Store Sales Online
Based on the 2008 College Store Industry Financial Report, total online sales at college stores for 2006-2007 were estimated at $499 million or 5.3% of U.S. college store sales. With a "click and mortar" strategy, the college store offers the best of both worlds to students—the convenience of web ordering, paired with:
- ease of returns
- the ability to pick up items for immediate use
- one-stop shopping
- accurate information on what textbooks students need for their courses
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