New Federal Bill Would Reduce Textbook Costs If Passed

Two United States senators have introduced legislation this month that would offset rising textbook costs, the Atlantic reported.

Democratic Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota and Dick Durbin of Illinois collaborated on the Affordable College Textbook Act, which would lower book costs by promoting the use of open-source textbooks. As defined by the bill, open books are text that are "licensed under an open license and made freely available online to the public."

Open educational resources are free, online academic materials that everyone can use, adapt and share. Open-source textbooks are not entirely new.

Rice University in Houston, Texas already offers a dozen textbooks for free online through a program called OpenStax. The university wants to expand the program to 10,000 students, the Atlantic reported. Boundless, an open educational-resources start-up, offers digital textbooks along with an app complete with flash cards and quizzes.

The two senators hope to accelerate the open-source trend.

The Franken/Durbin bill would also set up a competitive grant program to support pilot programs at colleges and universities in an effort to expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students.

The introduction of the bill has been applauded by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an international alliance of academic and research libraries which works to broaden access to academic knowledge.

"Higher education is calling for solutions to the textbook costs crisis, and this bill provides an answer," Nicole Allen, Open Educational Resources Program Director for SPARC, said in a statement. "For too many students, the cost of textbooks has become simply unaffordable, even with cost saving measures like renting and used books. It is time to focus on solutions that deliver meaningful, long-term savings for students, and open educational resources are the most effective path forward."

According to SPARC, the cost of textbooks has emerged as a significant piece of the college affordability and access debate. Textbook prices increased 82 percent between 2002 and 2012, and the average student budget for books and supplies has grown to $1,207 per year.