Let's face it, it IS about the money in a lot of ways. This is not just a PADI thing, but an LDS thing as well.
If they were interested in saving students some bucks, the LDS would have a library of PADI materials, photocopies of the quizes for the students to complete, and they could show the DVD in the class. The students could check out the materials maybe for a small fee, complete the couse work, and then return the materials back to the LDS.
Instead they required every student to buy the Stupid DVD (and IMO most are worthless), and they want every student to purchase the books. From an enviornmental standpoint, this is NOT a good approach. If the LDS had a set of 10-20 copies of each course, than those copies would be used by thousands of students.
After you are done with the materials do you ever really do much with them? I have referenced my OW book from time to time, but I do NOT need these materials, and they are NOT cheap.
I suppose if one is going to become an instructor, a copy of the course materials is not a bad idea. Then again, if you had access to the LDS *library* why would one need a personal copy.
I'm not really bashing PADI, however don't fool yourself, it IS about the $$$.