Foster Introduces Bill To Reduce Cost Of College Textbooks
Press Release
Foster Introduces Bill To Reduce Cost Of College Textbooks
In an economic climate where families are struggling to afford the rising costs of higher education, Rep. Bill Foster (IL-14) has introduced legislation designed to increase the accessibility of high quality educational materials, reducing the amount of money students must spend on traditional textbooks.
"Skyrocketing textbook costs, along with the high costs of tuition, room and board, often create a financial barrier that has become increasingly more difficult for students to penetrate," Foster said. "By making high quality educational materials freely accessible to the general public, students would save money on textbooks."
The College Board has reported that, for academic year 2007-2008, each student spent an estimated $805- $1,229 on college books and supplies, depending on the type of institution of higher education a student attended.
H.R. 1464, the Learning Opportunities with Creation of Open Source Textbooks (LOW COST) Act of 2009 is designed to make open source content freely available to students to download on their computers. The Act would require governmental federal agencies to devote a portion of their educational efforts to the collaboration on the development of open source materials, specifically in the areas of physics, chemistry and mathematics. Open source materials are materials that are posted on a Web site that is available free of charge and may be downloaded or redistributed free of charge by any member of the general public. The original materials would be posted on the Federal Open Source Material Web site, a Web site that would be created by this legislation.
"Posting these open source materials is a common-sense solution that will allow our students to have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information available - without the burden of high prices," Foster said. "College-level open source course work materials in math, physics and chemistry represent a high-priority first step in this area."
The legislation also creates a grant program to support private institutions or individuals that are interested in working on open source projects.
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