Here are some of the best questions for a student survey about textbook costs, plus quick tips for making your own. You can build a conversational survey about textbook costs for students in seconds—just generate your own with Specific anytime.
The best open-ended questions for a student survey about textbook costs
Open-ended questions help us get to the real stories behind the numbers—especially when students face tough choices due to textbook costs. These questions offer respondents the space to share situations and emotions, surfacing what statistics alone can’t show. That’s essential, considering that 65% of college students have skipped buying textbooks because they were too expensive [1]. Open-ended questions dig into those “why” and “how” details that drive change. Here are 10 insightful prompts to use:
Can you describe a time when the cost of a required textbook influenced your decision to buy or not buy it?
How do textbook prices affect your choices about which courses to take or avoid?
What strategies have you used to save money on textbooks?
Have you ever shared textbooks with classmates? What worked or didn’t?
How does the cost of books impact your overall college experience?
What alternatives to buying new textbooks have you found helpful?
If you could change one thing about how textbooks are assigned or sourced at your school, what would it be?
How do you feel when professors require the most up-to-date (and expensive) editions?
What unexpected costs or challenges have you faced related to course materials?
In what ways have textbooks impacted your academic success, positively or negatively?
The best single-select multiple-choice questions for a student survey about textbook costs
Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you need to quantify responses for quick analysis or trigger a more detailed follow-up. Sometimes, students find it easier to select from short options rather than formulating a long answer—once you get a sense of the big picture trends, you can follow up conversationally to unearth deeper feedback.
Examples to start conversation and gather data:
Question: How much did you spend on textbooks and course materials last semester?
Under $200
$200–$500
$500–$1,000
Over $1,000
Other
Question: Have you ever decided not to purchase a textbook because of its cost?
Yes, multiple times
Yes, once
No
Question: Do high textbook costs impact your decision to enroll in certain classes?
Yes, significantly
Yes, somewhat
No, not at all
When to follow up with “why?” Any time a student gives an answer that points to a problem or a strong opinion, ask them why. For example, after “Yes, I skipped buying a textbook” ask, “Why did you decide not to buy it? How did you manage to complete coursework?” This adds helpful context you’d otherwise miss.
When and why to add the “Other” choice? Use “Other” for responses that might not fit your listed options—it gives students voice, and lets you discover surprises. Following up on “Other” can reveal unexpected barriers or clever workarounds you hadn’t thought about.
NPS survey question for student survey about textbook costs
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is usually for measuring likelihood to recommend, but it’s a powerful way to measure student satisfaction about textbook affordability, too. Ask: “On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend this college’s policies around textbook affordability to a friend?” Pair this with a quick “Why?” follow-up for actionable feedback. When most students rate poorly, it’s a signal textbook costs are hurting the overall value proposition, not just individual budgets. You can instantly generate an NPS survey for students about textbook costs here.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are the secret sauce in AI, conversational surveys. They take quick surveys and transform them into insightful conversations. With Specific’s automatic AI follow-up questions, smart probing happens in real time—like an expert would in interview—which uncovers rich context without added workload. Follow-ups tease out details, clarify vague answers, and bring hidden stories to the surface.
Student: “I bought a used textbook instead.”
AI follow-up: “Did you face any difficulties using a used textbook, like missing online codes or outdated content?”
How many follow-ups to ask? Two to three follow-ups are usually enough to get deeper context—thanks to settings, you can always let respondents skip ahead once your main question is answered. Specific lets you tailor the follow-up depth—so you get full coverage, without survey fatigue.
This makes it a conversational survey. Every answer builds on the previous one—so the feedback feels more like chat, less like a chore, which drives honest and thoughtful responses.
AI survey response analysis. Even if there’s lots of unstructured text, analysis is easy. With AI-driven analysis features, you can instantly categorize themes and spot trends—even with open-ended, nuanced answers.
These automated follow-ups are a fresh concept for many—try generating your own conversational survey to see the difference for yourself.
How to compose a prompt for AI to brainstorm student survey questions about textbook costs
If you want to let AI do the heavy lifting, composing a better prompt is key. Start simple:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Student survey about Textbook Costs.
Add more context about your goals and your audience to get sharper questions. For example:
I am conducting a survey to understand how textbook costs affect undergraduate students at a large public university. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that reveal both the practical and emotional impact of textbook pricing.
You can also prompt for structure:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, pick categories that matter most and go deeper:
Generate 10 questions for the categories “Course decision-making” and “Strategies to save on textbooks”.
What is a conversational AI survey, really?
A conversational survey feels like a dialogue—not an endless grid of boxes and dropdowns. Using AI, we can launch a survey that adapts in real time, follows up for clarity, and responds to students as naturally as a person. Compared to building a traditional survey, the AI survey builder in Specific means:
Manual survey creation | AI-generated survey |
|---|---|
Plan and write every question by hand | Describe what you want; AI crafts and structures the survey in seconds |
Hard to adjust on the fly; rigid flow | Flexible—edit and rephrase with natural language in the AI survey editor |
Manual coding for branching or follow-ups | AI asks personalized follow-ups based on each reply |
Delayed insights; difficult analysis | Instant insights with AI survey response analysis tools |
Why use AI for student surveys? You get quick, relevant, and richer feedback—AI probes deeper when it spots something interesting, meaning you uncover real issues, not just numbers. An AI survey example about textbook costs often surfaces student stories, course planning headaches, and even policy change suggestions no form field would have caught. See how to create a survey in our step-by-step guide.
Specific is at the frontier of conversational surveys, giving both survey creators and student respondents a modern experience that’s fast, natural, and built for dialogue—not data entry.
See this textbook costs survey example now
Ready to get honest, detailed feedback in minutes? Create your own conversational survey to uncover actionable insights about textbook costs—fast, rich, and easy, powered by AI-driven follow-ups and response analysis.