[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3567 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3567

To require the General Accounting Office to conduct an investigation of 
                  the high price of college textbooks.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2003

    Mr. Wu introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the General Accounting Office to conduct an investigation of 
                  the high price of college textbooks.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) It is in the interest of the Nation to ensure that the 
        people of the United States have the opportunity to obtain a 
        postsecondary education.
            (2) According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2001 a 
        person with a bachelor's degree earned nearly 90 percent more, 
        on average, than a person with only a high school diploma.
            (3) Since 1980, the rate of increase of the cost of 
        postsecondary education has far exceeded the rate of increase 
        of inflation, public assistance to students, and family income.
            (4) Over the past decade, increases in tuition at private 
        colleges and universities in the United States have averaged 
        nearly 5 percent per year and have been twice as great as 
        increases in the Consumer Price Index.
            (5) The rapidly rising cost of postsecondary education 
        poses a serious threat to the ability of the people of the 
        United States to ensure their and their children's access to 
        postsecondary education.
            (6) Since 1992, the annual amount of new student loan 
        commitments has increased from $15,000,000,000 to 
        $35,000,000,000, which represents an increasing burden on 
        college graduates to pay for their college education long after 
        that education is completed.
            (7) According to the National Association of Independent 
        Colleges and Universities, nearly 80 percent of their full 
        time, dependent undergraduates receive some sort of financial 
        assistance.
            (8) Students can spend nearly $1000 a year on college 
        textbooks, and, for many students, particularly those in 2-year 
        degree and certificate programs, textbooks make up a large 
        percentage of postsecondary education costs.
            (9) American college students often find that their 
        textbooks cost far less overseas than they do in United States; 
        oftentimes, the exact same textbook can be purchased overseas 
        at half the cost.
            (10) Congress must do everything possible, including 
        addressing the cost of college textbooks, to make college more 
        affordable.

SEC. 2. COMPTROLLER GENERAL INVESTIGATION REQUIRED.

    (a) Investigation Required.--Within 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall conduct an 
investigation to examine--
            (1) the cost of college textbooks in the United States; and
            (2) whether the same textbooks are being sold outside the 
        United States for substantially less than the cost in the 
        United States.
    (b) Report Required.--Within one year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report on the 
investigation required by subsection (a) to the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. Such report shall 
include--
            (1) the average amount of money a student spends on 
        textbooks;
            (2) the average cost to produce a new textbook;
            (3) the average cost to produce a new edition of a 
        previously published textbook;
            (4) the reasons for the price discrepancy in textbooks in 
        the United States and outside the United States;
            (5) the extent of the problem with such price discrepancy;
            (6) whether the price discrepancy problem occurs more in 
        certain subject areas than others;
            (7) the extent to which new editions of textbooks are 
        different from their previous editions, including the 
        percentage of work that is actually substantively changed from 
        one edition to the next; and
            (8) the average time period between old and newer editions 
        of textbooks.
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