I was photography editor for my college yearbook and I worked very closely with another editor who was in charge of the portraits section. I must say that this practice is very common. In fact, using multiple photographers is uncommon. If you are out of town on the day of the shoot, too bad. Do you expect the company to come back on a date that accomodates one student\'s vacation schedule? You already know the answer to that question.
Also, including other photographs is just difficult. It messes up the automation of the system and it looks tacky in the book product.
As for \"kickbacks\", I am not quite sure, but certainly there are discounts. In some cases, the contracts are extended (for a number of years).
