Daily Vidette - Senator Durbin Explains New Textbook Legislation

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Daily Vidette - Senator Durbin Explains New Textbook Legislation

by Matthew Tomlin

New legislation would change textbook purchasing process for college students

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) spoke on the second floor of the Bone Student Center Tuesday, to announce that his College Textbook Affordability Act legislation was signed into law last month.

The law, which goes into effect in July 2010, aims at lowering the costs of students' textbooks "so that you don't have a mortgage on the rest of your life," Sen. Durbin said, mentioning that the act requires three things.

"The first thing we're looking for is disclosure," Durbin said. "Let the students know when they sign up for a course what the textbooks are going to cost."

"Let's make sure the faculty know what it's going to cost the students, so that when you're choosing a course...you can take this into consideration."

Secondly, supplemental materials usually sold with the textbook will have to be sold individually.

"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 in a press release.

"The third thing is an ISBN number," he said. "An ISBN number is the universal number for a book. If you know that number, you can go shopping."

Colleges will be required to provide this number to students so they have a chance to find their textbooks for cheaper prices somewhere else.

"Debt usually averages $20,000 per student for four years of public education, and you can attribute 25 percent of that to the cost of textbooks," Durbin said.

University Registrar Jess Ray, who also attended the event, let ISU students know what they can do to find cheaper textbooks now.

What we're doing is providing that information on Course Finder so that when students pre-plan for registration, they have the opportunity to take a look," Ray said.

"Once a student has registered for [his or her] class, they can go inside the student portal, click under my textbooks, and that will give them a listing of all the textbooks assigned and associated with that class."

Senior political science major Gina Tucci took the stage after Durbin and shared her story.

"The first two years I bought my books from ISU," Tucci explained. "[I was spending] anywhere from $500-$800 a semester."

Currently, Tucci orders her books online, sacrificing convenience for savings.

Students at four-year public universities have seen a 42 percent increase in the combined cost of fees, tuition and room and board in the past five years.

The average student is looking at almost $900 a year on textbooks alone.

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