Durbin Legislation to Curb Excessive Cost of College Textbooks Now Law

Press Release

Durbin Legislation to Curb Excessive Cost of College Textbooks Now Law

With the average cost for college textbooks soaring, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that legislation he authored to minimize the financial strain that accompanies the beginning of each semester is now law. Major provisions from Durbin's College Textbook Affordability Act were included in the Higher Education Act Reauthorization signed into law by the President last month.

Durbin noted that the cost of textbooks is rising four times the rate of inflation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index. The average college student spends nearly $900 on textbooks every year.

"Publishers continue to use new editions and bundled material to drive up costs for students who are already having trouble paying for school," Durbin said.

Durbin's College Textbook Affordability Act will help bring these costs down for students. Publishers will be required to provide in writing to professors the price of a textbook, information on cheaper formats, and a history of revisions. Textbooks and supplemental materials that are sold as a bundle must also be sold individually.

"I was shocked to learn that many professors do not know the retail price of the textbook they are choosing for their class," Durbin said. "If they are choosing the books that students have to buy, they should know the cost. With the College Textbook Affordability Act, professors will have the information they need to pick the right textbook at the right price."

Colleges will continue to play an important role in providing cost information to students. Under the new law, to the maximum extent practicable, colleges will have to include the retail price and identifying textbook information—ISBN number or author, title, and date of publication—of all required and optional materials in the course schedule for the upcoming term. If that information is not available, it must be listed it as "To Be Determined."

This requirement will help ensure that bookstores receive orders in time to stock up on any available used books and students will have time to search for lower-priced textbooks online. Combined, these disclosure requirements will make it easier for professors to choose books that aren't unnecessarily costly.

"It will allow students to buy just the supplies they need - not an expensive bundle that includes materials not required for the class," Durbin said.

Over the last 5 years, the combined cost of tuition, fees, room and board at four-year public colleges and universities increased by 42%. In Illinois, tuition and fees at public 4-year schools in Illinois rose 12% over the course of just one school year. In 2004, nearly two-thirds of all four-year college graduates nationwide had loan debt, compared with less than one-third of graduates in 1993. Following the national trend, 66% of undergraduate students in Illinois took out loans to pay for college. The average student starting college this fall will graduate with over $20,000 in student loan debt.

"Textbook prices can be the tipping point between going to college and dropping out because of cost," said Nicole Allen, the Textbooks Advocate for the Student PIRGs. "This bill takes critical steps to rein in skyrocketing prices by limiting costly publisher practices and making the textbooks market fairer to students."

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