Textbook costs can be a barrier to an affordable education. The average student spends about $900 per year, and textbook prices increase faster than inflation. To address this problem, Congress included a set of strong policies in The Higher Education Reauthorization and College Opportunity Act of 2008.
The textbooks section has three main provisions:
- Requires publishers to disclose textbook pricing and revision information to faculty
- Requires publishers to offer textbooks and supplemental materials “unbundled” (separately)
- Asks
colleges to provide the list of assigned textbooks (incl. ISBNs and
prices) for each course when students are registering for classes.
To learn more visit the Make Textbooks Affordable website.
