The cost of new textbooks has increased 82%, three times faster than inflation, over the last decade.
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators
Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Al Franken
(D-MN) today introduced legislation designed to help students manage
costs by making high quality textbooks easily accessible to students,
professors and the public for free. This bill, known as the
Affordable College Textbook Act,
would create a competitive grant program for institutions of higher
education, working with professors and other organizations, to create
and expand the use of textbooks that can be made available online and
licensed under terms that grant the public the right to freely access,
customize and distribute the material, also known as “open textbooks”.
“My home state of Illinois provides an example of how the bill I am
introducing with
Senator Franken can be successful,” said Durbin. “Over
three years ago, I worked to secure funding for the University of
Illinois to complete an open textbook project. The University, working
with faculty, identified sustainability as the topic for the project and
an area of study in need of such open resources. Since 2012, the
textbook that was produced from this effort – Sustainability: A
Comprehensive Foundation – has been in regular use at the University of
Illinois campuses. The book has been used in a Massive Open Online
Course that has been sampled by at least 60,000 students. At least a
dozen schools throughout the country have either contacted the
University of Illinois about the text or are using it. This bill can
replicate and build on this success and help make the cost of attending
college more affordable.”
“In the fight to make college more affordable and accessible for
Minnesota families we can’t overlook the rising costs of textbooks,”
said Franken. “I’m proud to introduce this bill with Senator Durbin
because it will help provide cheaper alternatives to traditional
textbooks and keep more money in students’ pockets where it belongs.”
Textbook costs are one of the most overlooked costs of going to
college, but they can be substantial and can be a barrier to attaining a
college education. According to College Board, the average student
budget for college books and supplies during the 2012-2013 academic year
was $1,200.
“Students can’t afford to pay $250 for a single textbook. In fact,
U.S. PIRG found that seven of ten current college students have skipped
buying a textbook because it was too expensive. It’s clear that the
current big-publisher system isn’t working for students, and needs to
change,” said U.S. PIRG Higher Education Associate Ethan Senack. “For
students, the cost-saving potential of open textbooks is massive -
around 80-100% compared to published textbooks. We thank Senators Durbin
and Franken for championing this innovative solution to the high cost
of textbooks.”
Today’s legislation expands on the
2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act which contained provisions from Durbin’s
College Textbook Affordability Act
that aimed to make more information available to students looking to
manage college textbook costs. Durbin introduced his bill after
learning of troubling practices by the publishing industry to create new
textbook editions with little new content to drive up costs and bundle
additional and often unwanted materials to required texts at students’
expense. The 2008 law required textbook publishers to disclose to
faculty the cost of a textbook
s to their students,
required schools to publish textbook information in course catalogues
when practicable, and required publishers to offer unbundled
supplemental materials so students had choices. The provisions took
effect on July 1, 2010.
While a June 2013
GAO Report
required by the law found that students had more information and
publishers and schools were generally complying with the new disclosure
requirements, it also found that the price of textbooks had continued to
rise.
“Textbook prices are simply unaffordable and have become a barrier to
academic success for too many students,” said Nicole Allen,
Open
Educational Resources Program Director for the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition. “This bill would help more colleges
leverage open educational resources to make higher education more
affordable and accessible for all.”
“The dirty secret about textbooks is that they don't have to be so
expensive given the rise of technology. Even worse, if you put textbook
debt in larger context with student debt, the affordability of college
is becoming less and less tenable, and, as a result, the American dream
is becoming more difficult for the next generation to attain,” said
Matthew Segal, co-founder of OurTime.org
The limited federal investment in the creation and expanded use of a
set of high-quality, introductory level college textbooks outlined in
the
Affordable College Textbook Act can improve learning, access,
and affordability for all college students. Making high-quality open
textbooks freely available to the general public can significantly lower
college textbook costs and increase accessibility to higher education.
Open textbooks can also improve learning and teaching through course
materials that are more flexible, adaptable, and accessible for
professors.
Specifically, the
Affordable College Textbook Act:
- Creates a grant program to support pilot programs at colleges and
universities to create and expand the use of open textbooks with
priority for those programs that will achieve the highest savings for
students;
- Ensures that any open textbooks or educational materials created
using program funds will be freely and easily accessible to the public;
- Requires entities who receive funds to complete a report on the effectiveness of the program in achieving savings for students;
- Improves existing requirements for publishers to make all textbooks
and other educational materials available for sale individually rather
than as a bundle; and
- Requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress
by 2017 with an update on the price trends of college textbooks.
The Durbin-Franken
Affordable College Textbook Act is
supported by the following organizations: U.S. PIRG, the Scholarly
Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition, American Association of
Community Colleges, National Association of College Bookstores, National
Association of Graduate and Professional Students, OUR TIME, Creative
Commons and the OpenCourseWare Consortium.
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