CALPIRG In The News

 

The U.S. House of Representatives may consider a piece of legislation in the next few weeks that, if passed, could make textbook-buying and other college costs easier on students' checkbooks.

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, which among other things calls for textbook publishers to provide colleges with more information about the costs of buying textbooks, could be reviewed by the full House in early February.

"It is long past time to address rising textbook prices-and this bill will take important steps to make these costs more manageable," said Representative George Miller (D-Calif.), who introduced the bill, in an e-mail.

The bill, introduced in November 2007, would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by adding several sections that would make the cost of higher education more transparent to students and their families.

The bill was passed unanimously in December 2007 out of the House Education and Labor Committee, of which Miller is chair, and is now ready for consideration by the whole House.

One provision of the nearly 800-page-long bill would require textbook publishers to fully disclose to colleges the prices of textbooks, as well as information about how revised editions differ from previous ones. Publishers would also have to allow bundled textbooks and materials to be purchased separately.

UC Berkeley student organizations such as CalPIRG have demonstrated support for the bill's textbook provision by building a photo petition that urges Congress to pass the bill.

"The textbook market is just messed up," said Jenn Engstrom, CalPIRG's chapter chair on campus. "Now we are calling on Congress to take action."

Yet some, including UC officials and UC Berkeley textbook distributor Follett Higher Education Group said that, although they agree with legislation that would lower student costs, the bill also includes provisions that do not seem practical, like requiring campuses to print course schedules even when they are subject to change.

"Some of those things need to be looked at to make them practical and beneficial," said Follett spokesperson Cliff Ewert.

The bill also seeks to extend the length of the Pell Grant, provide predominantly ethnic minority institutions with aid and grant more aid to institutions as a reward for keeping tuition rates low.

While citing provisions of the bill that would be useful to students, UC Legislative Director for Education Carolyn Henrich said some of the information the bill seeks from the university, loan lenders and textbook publishers may not achieve lower costs.

"If it's going to be good for students � then we'll do what we have to do," she said. "We're happy to report more information. We just don't want to provide more information for the sake of it."

The bill would also create indices that would rank colleges according to their tuition rates, a process Henrich said should be more standardized since each institution calculates rates using different factors.

"Quality (in the index) is not considered in the least, it's just the cost," she said. "One of the things we're looking for is a standardized definition so when you are making the comparison you're looking at apples versus apples."