Spring Break
College Textbook Bill Should Be Passed
Editorial Board
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Commentary
The House passed the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2007 on Feb 7. This is a definitive step in the right direction. Once the president signs the act, college students everywhere should celebrate in full force.
By signing the act, members of the House finally acknowledged that college students are a major part of their constituencies and chose to act in their best interests, instead of the interests of corporations. It's about time.
The act requires textbook publishers to provide college professors with the price of textbooks the professors are considering for their courses. This will allow professors to decide if an expensive textbook is worth the hundreds of dollars it will cost students, versus getting a different version or similar text that is cheaper.
During the first week of a semester, when professors seem astonished at how much students had to pay for the texts, they are being sincere. As of now, publishers are allowed to hide the costs of textbooks from professors, even if the professors specifically ask how much a textbook costs.
The act also requires publishers to disclose the revisions in new editions of textbooks. This way professors can decide whether it is vital to the course for the new book to be purchased, or if students can purchase the older version with an additional supplement, if necessary.
Another stipulation of the act requires that publishers disclose whether the text is available in other formats, such as paperback or unbound, and the costs associated with those versions. This gives professors more freedom and allows them to opt out of assigning a hardcover text, which can be far more expensive to students with limited funding and multiple course loads.
The act also requires publishers who sell bundled textbooks to sell the textbooks separate from any accompanying supplemental material, which relieves the burden on students who are usually forced to pay for a CD or DVD, which is often completely ignored and irrelevant to the course work but costs an additional $20 more than the textbook itself.
The passage of the College Textbook Affordability Act is positive. This act greatly benefits students, professors and university bookstores. Students will be more likely to buy their textbooks at a university bookstore if they are reasonably priced, and the university will still make the same amount of profit off the textbook. Professors will be happier because students will be less likely to complain about paying for excessive, and oftentimes, unnecessary course material. The only group the passage of this act could possibly adversely affect is textbook publishers. The president should move forward and sign the act into law.
By signing the act, members of the House finally acknowledged that college students are a major part of their constituencies and chose to act in their best interests, instead of the interests of corporations. It's about time.
The act requires textbook publishers to provide college professors with the price of textbooks the professors are considering for their courses. This will allow professors to decide if an expensive textbook is worth the hundreds of dollars it will cost students, versus getting a different version or similar text that is cheaper.
During the first week of a semester, when professors seem astonished at how much students had to pay for the texts, they are being sincere. As of now, publishers are allowed to hide the costs of textbooks from professors, even if the professors specifically ask how much a textbook costs.
The act also requires publishers to disclose the revisions in new editions of textbooks. This way professors can decide whether it is vital to the course for the new book to be purchased, or if students can purchase the older version with an additional supplement, if necessary.
Another stipulation of the act requires that publishers disclose whether the text is available in other formats, such as paperback or unbound, and the costs associated with those versions. This gives professors more freedom and allows them to opt out of assigning a hardcover text, which can be far more expensive to students with limited funding and multiple course loads.
The act also requires publishers who sell bundled textbooks to sell the textbooks separate from any accompanying supplemental material, which relieves the burden on students who are usually forced to pay for a CD or DVD, which is often completely ignored and irrelevant to the course work but costs an additional $20 more than the textbook itself.
The passage of the College Textbook Affordability Act is positive. This act greatly benefits students, professors and university bookstores. Students will be more likely to buy their textbooks at a university bookstore if they are reasonably priced, and the university will still make the same amount of profit off the textbook. Professors will be happier because students will be less likely to complain about paying for excessive, and oftentimes, unnecessary course material. The only group the passage of this act could possibly adversely affect is textbook publishers. The president should move forward and sign the act into law.
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