Even my History major had codes she needed to buy for classes, like math and foreign language. Those codes always cost $120-$200. She had a few art history books that were also expensive.
I went to a school where we rented books. I don’t know what the cost was because it was just part of student fees but I thought it was pretty good. You went to the book store and they gave you whatever you needed, including a dictionary and any other reference books.
I can see a lot of ways to make this work out. If you know all the classes you are taking for a year, get all those books in the first quarter, pay the $200, download them, and then opt out for the other two quarters. If you change a class and need a different book, just buy that one from an off campus source. Get the book from a classmate (if they can share a digital book).
I think most students will just consider the $199 another fee, just like a student activity fee. A friend I went to school with always had a ‘parking’ fee on her bill. Her father thought it was for a parking pass but it was really for tickets she’d accumulated in the prior semester. He just paid the bill.