Earlier this month, the Senate introduced legislation attempting to subsidize the cost of college textbooks. If passed, the bill known as the Affordable College Textbook Act would give colleges and universities national grants to provide students, professors and researchers free, online access to textbooks.
According to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the key architect of the Senate bill, more attention should be given to the increasing cost of textbooks.
“In the ongoing nationwide debate about the rising cost of college, one of the most basic and direct costs to students is often overlooked: textbooks,” Durbin said in a press release.
Durbin originally proposed the legislation in 2013, but the bill eventually died. However, Durbin reintroduced the bill upon learning textbooks are updated without substantial additional information and then sold for a significantly higher price.
Durbin cited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign which began using federal funding to publish free online textbooks in 2012. Durbin said the success at the U of I could serve as a model for the Affordable College Textbook Act.
During the 2014-2015 academic year, The College Board reported the average student at public, four-year institutions spent $1,225 on books and supplies.
Furthermore, according to Mark J. Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan, the cost of textbooks has risen 945 percent from 1978 to 2014. This is juxtaposed with only a 262 percent increase in the consumer-price index, which evaluates how prices of goods and services have evolved within that time period. Overall, this means textbook costs have risen more than three and a half times the rate of inflation.
As a result, Sen. Angus King (I-ME), noted the rising cost of textbooks could hinder some students’ academic development.
“College students spend thousands of dollars on textbooks over the course of their academic career – and as the cost of those textbooks increases, the harder it becomes to afford them, which only forces students to reach deeper into their pockets or risk jeopardizing their academic careers,” King said in a statement.
According to King, the Affordable College Textbook Act would be a “win-win” for college students’ futures.
Avery Steadman, student body president of Elon University’s Student Government Association, said the legislation would benefit students because while there is little that can be done to lower tuition costs at Elon, making textbooks available online would still lower academic costs over time.
“There is not much we can do to change our tuition, but this would bring down incidental costs, rather than tuition as a whole,” Steadman said.
Steadman acknowledged that sometimes students do not purchase textbooks because of the high prices. This is consistent with national trends revealed in a 2014 survey from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which discovered 65 percent of students do not purchase textbooks due to the cost. Of these students, 94 percent said they were negatively impacted academically as a result.
A potential negative Steadman identified was the ramifications for textbook manufacturing companies.
“I wouldn’t want it to inhibit us to have good textbooks,” Steadman said.
According to Perry, the traditional textbook will encounter challenges as websites like Open Stax College and Boundless provide online access or printed textbooks for significantly reduced prices.
“The astronomical rise in the price of college textbooks is part of the unsustainable ‘higher education bubble,’” Perry said in his report. “As far as college textbooks, the new era of $400 textbooks seems to be clearly unsustainable in the face of a growing number of competitive, low-cost alternatives like free online textbooks.”
Representatives Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced accompanying legislation in the House of Representatives.
The Affordable College Textbook Act would take effect upon the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which is anticipated to be renewed at the end of 2015.
