H.R. 3512 (110^th): College Textbook Affordability and Transparency Act of 2007

According to a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office (in this section referred to as GAO), college textbook costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation.

According to the GAO report, the cost of textbooks can increase a student’s overall college costs from 8 percent at private institutions to over 72 percent at some public institutions and community colleges.

According to a report by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, requested by Congress, current grant and scholarship programs which can barely meet the challenge of rising tuition costs are not sufficient to mitigate the costs of college textbooks.

According to the GAO report, publishers have begun to develop and distribute alternatives to college textbooks in order to provide less expensive materials, but they have had to incorporate the development costs into the prices of domestic textbook sales.

According to the GAO report, there has not been a sufficient demand for textbook alternatives to offset publishers’ development costs and reduce the overall costs of college textbooks.

According to the GAO report, publishers have engaged in agreements with overseas distributors to restrict the re-importation of overseas textbooks in the United States, regardless of content similarities, thus restricting students from purchasing lower-cost textbooks from overseas.

There is not sufficient communication and transparency between all the stakeholders in the textbook market, leading to unnecessary frustrations and misunderstandings about the rising costs of college textbooks.

The textbook market by its nature puts students at a disadvantage when it comes to affecting the prices of textbooks because it does not include them in the decision-making process for ultimate textbook purchases.

Students should be fully informed about the costs of textbooks before registering for classes in order to be aware of the full cost of higher education.

Students should have the ability, whenever possible, to seek out and purchase lower-cost alternatives to textbooks so as to reduce the cost of higher education.

The price at which the publisher would make the college textbook or supplemental material available to the bookstore on the campus of, or otherwise associated with, such institution of higher education.

The full history of revisions for the college textbook or supplemental material.

Whether the college textbook or supplemental material is available in any other format, including paperback and unbound, and the price at which the publisher would make the college textbook or supplemental material in the other format available to the bookstore on the campus of, or otherwise associated with, such institution of higher education.

disclose the International Standard Book Number of required and recommended textbooks, related materials and supplies, including retail price information, for each course listed in the institution’s course schedule used for pre-registration and registration purposes;

if the International Standard Book Number is not available for the items listed in paragraph (1), the institution shall use the author and title; and

if the institution determines that the disclosure of the information described in the preceding paragraphs for a course is not practicable, then it should indicate so by placing the designation “To Be Determined” in lieu of the information required under such paragraphs.