[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AFFORDABLE COLLEGE TEXTBOOK ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, textbook costs are one of the most 
overlooked barriers to college affordability and access, and they are 
continuing to get more expensive.
  Over the last decade, 2006 to 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
Consumer Price Index shows that consumer prices for college textbooks 
increased almost 90 percent. It means students have to spend more every 
year. In 2016 to 2017, the College Board recommended that students 
budget an average of $1,250 for their books.
  A survey released by the Student Public Interest Research Group 
reported that 65 percent of students decided not to buy a textbook 
because of the cost, and 94 percent of those students worried it would 
hurt their grade.
  This week, I joined with Senators Al Franken and Angus King and 
Representatives Jared Polis and Kyrsten Sinema to reintroduce the 
Affordable College Textbook Act. This bill would establish a grant 
program to encourage the creation and use of high-quality open 
textbooks which are free to use. Greater access to and widespread use 
of these open textbooks can save each student who uses one hundreds of 
dollars, and, long term, it puts pressure on the traditional college 
textbook market to come up with affordable alternatives.
  My home State of Illinois provides an example of how this bill would 
work. The University of Illinois used $150,000 in Federal money to 
pilot an open textbook project at its main campus. The university, 
working With faculty, developed an open textbook, ``Sustainability: A 
Comprehensive Foundation.'' This textbook was published electronically 
for free and open use. You can go online today and find it.
  Instead of a student having to shell out $150 or more for his or her 
introductory environmental sustainability class, he or she can use this 
free online book. That is a direct savings to a student every time a 
professor assigns this text in place of a traditional textbook. Today 
it is saving students money in Illinois, but also across the country at 
other colleges and universities where it has been adopted by faculty 
into their curriculum.
  I would again like to thank my colleagues, Senators Al Franken and 
Angus King, for joining me in this effort I would also like to thank 
the wide variety of organizations that support this bill, including the 
U.S. PIRG, SPARC, National Association of Big Ten Students, National 
Association of College Stores, American Association of Community 
Colleges, United Negro College Fund, and others.
  Mr. President, I hope that my colleagues in Congress will join us in 
supporting this bill to create a program at the Federal level to 
encourage the creation and adoption of these materials. In the 
meantime, I hope students across the country will reach out to their 
professors and have this conversation with them. Ask them to adopt 
these free, quality materials that are available today.

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