Merger may provide cheaper prices in the short run, but critics fear that as the market trends towards a monopoly, prices will again rise. Could also limit the material accessible to professors and students.
In the market of textbook publishers, there were five. Now there are four. McGraw Hill and Cengage have decided to merge following a rough financial stretch for Cengage. McGraw Hills claims that new technologies and advances allow for cheaper textbooks to be published online and sold to students as a package. Some universities have been looking into the idea of entering into a partnership that will automatically opt-in students for a subscription to Cengage Unlimited (Access to all Cengage textbooks online for $120 for 4 month subscription.) Students and faculty have been particularly adamant that this new partnership will not help students, and will increase the overall cost of attending school.
MarketWatch - Jillian Berman