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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2007

CONTACT: Laura Deehan, CALPIRG, laura@calpirgstudents.org

Today, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance (ACSFA) released their report to Congress on solutions to the problem of skyrocketing college textbook prices. The study was requested last year by Congressmen David Wu (D-OR) and Buck McKeon (R-CA), part of a follow up to the 2005 Government Accountability Office study that confirmed much of the Make Textbooks Affordable campaign’s research on the problem.

“The report confirms the burden of textbook prices on students and offers a smart package of solutions that can introduce real competition into the publishing industry and free students from the stranglehold that traditional publishers have on the market,” said Laura Deehan, the CALPIRG Assistant Organizing Director. “In particular, we urge faculty, colleges and policymakers to do everything in their power to hasten the development and adoption of openly-licensed learning content.”

A full analysis of the report can be found at our website.  Items of particular note include:

• Confirmation that textbook prices ““represent a significant barrier to access and persistence.”
• A clear analysis of the market which correctly recognizes the disproportionate amount of power that publishers have in the market, and the need to restructure the market so that it is “student-centric.”
• A large basket of effective, “short-term solutions” to the problem, such as the Washington policy and proposed California legislation requiring greater price transparency among publishers, the California State University Academic Senate’s purchasing guidelines, and the used textbook initiative at Mateo County Community College District Bookstores.
• There are many 21st Century Technologies – such as those housed at Rice University Press and Connexions - that are dramatically less expensive and more flexible than traditionally licensed books.
• A call to create a national “digital marketplace” where all content – commercial and non-commercial – can compete against each other on one platform.

“I applaud the work of the advisory committee. Many of their findings and recommendations confirm what those of us pushing for meaningful solutions have suspected all along—rising textbooks costs and the lack of competition have created a barrier for college students. As the report makes clear, the publishing industry must not and cannot be allowed to continue their deceptive marketing practices," said State Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro).

Senator Corbett went on to further state that “full and complete disclosure to faculty of pertinent information such as cost, product lists, revisions made and estimated length of time on market by marketing reps, as proposed in my bill, will help bring about lower costs for students and parents alike.”

Although the report’s overall conclusions are very strong, the Make Textbooks Affordable Project had some criticisms of the report. For example, the report should have made clearer that “E-books” are much less ideal than other “21st century” alternatives. In some cases, “E-books” are actually more expensive than even traditional hardbound books once the buyback value of a book is factored in. Read more in the report analysis.

"Textbooks are a huge burden for community college students often impacting how many classes they can afford to take," says Eva Jackson, Student Trustee-elect for the Los Angeles Community College District. "We surveyed hundreds of students at Los Angeles Southwest College and found students overwhelmingly said they'd take more classes if the books were cheaper.