EPA, I think we are largely in agreement! Government assistance is a catch-22 - it really does make it possible for some to go to college, some who will benefit from college and excel, who otherwise could not go. But as soon as you start down that road, the problem becomes how to validate whether the money is well spent, both by the students and by the institutions. Who gets to decide that this student, or that one, is deserving of help, and how much help?
Your point about self-publishing a textbook is well taken ... since I have done exactly that for the past 20 years! It has worked fine in one context (a language class), but it wouldn't necessarily work well in every context.
A major issue is credibility - self-publishing can include some wonderful works (cough, cough, not necessarily thinking of my own textbook, of course ...
), but in general there is a rather large percentage of self-published works that are, shall we say, "sketchy." Or worse. I get a steady stream of these sent to me by authors hoping I will use their brilliant self-published work in my next class ... but even a quick scan of the contents shows that their best use is to line the circular file.
Meanwhile, though there can be some not-so-great textbooks produced by the major companies, in general there is a much more significant vetting process, including review by other scholars in the field. So, even though the book may or may not be the greatest, there is some sense of credibility that at least it represents a certain amount of consensus.
Think about an analogy from a machining perspective. How do folks here tend to respond to someone working in the shop, saying, "Oh, I've got this home made measuring tool that I'm going to use on the next project." Actually, I don't know the answer - maybe it would be widely accepted? But I'm guessing that, in general, shop owners and managers are going to insist that the machinist use a caliper made by a reputable company. Sure, many folks here can make tools of exquisite precision and accuracy, and sometimes even the name brands can produce a lemon. But credibility ... we've all seen too many examples of home made tools, of which the maker is inordinately proud, which we know are simply awful.
When you are working for yourself, of course, you can pull out your own self-made tool, knowing exactly what its capabilities and limits are. For the language course that I teach, I've been able to do something similar, making my own textbook - for reasons not dissimilar to the OP's. But not everyone is capable of, wants to, or has time to write their own textbook (it is not a minor undertaking!), and it surely is not terribly efficient for each professor to do so, with no sharing. But when you start to share it, back we go to credibility. In some disciplines, the subject matter may be such that you can judge the credibility of the book pretty quickly ... but don't forget that you have to judge not only the accuracy of the information, but also the appropriateness of the assignments, the order and pace of the presentation, etc. And in some disciplines, you may have the accreditors asking why you have chosen to use this "Harbor Freight" book when there is a "Mitutoyo" book right here ... quite a bit more expensive of, course!
One more issue related to credibility - the credibility, or maybe rather integrity, of the professor. If the only thing students get in my classes is the book(s) that I myself have written, I'm making a rather sweeping claim about what I know and what they need to know. Even with the language course for which I use my own textbook, I include some other resources (fortunately, not very expensive) so that mine is not the only voice the students hear. In other classes that I teach, I *might* include a book I have written, but for sure I would want the students to engage with others' thoughts as well. It's a matter of integrity: I don't claim to know everything, and my perspective on various issues is not the only one students need to be aware of.
Sorry for the over-lengthy response!
