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New textbook provision could take the pain out of book buying

Written by Allie Cochran, The Shorthorn staff

Tuesday, 27 July 2010 09:14 PM

The United States legislature is taking steps to ensure “students have access to affordable course materials,” with a textbook provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. The amendment, Section 113, aimed at making textbooks more affordable for college students was implemented on July 1.

Congress confirmed the textbook legislation revision on July 31, 2008 and set it to go into effect July 1, 2010. The HEOA provision focuses on changes made by publishers and colleges to create more affordable textbooks.

The UTA Bookstore was not affected by the amendment according to UTA Bookstore director Bill Coulter. He said the UTA bookstore has always offered books in the most affordable form, including unbundled books. Offering unbundled books is a requirement of publishers under the textbook provision.

Publishers are the primary targets of the textbook provisions. One of the largest textbook publishers, Pearson Publishing, has made changes to comply with the amendment, Pearson communications director Susan Aspey said.

“Pearson is in full compliance with the new federal HEOA requirements. For example, our retail prices have always been available at our website, pearsonhighered.com, and now instructors are able to access at our website net or wholesale prices as well,” Aspey said.

Other alterations to operation by Pearson have included unbundling, a condition of the law.

There are three main requirements of the HEOA amendment. The textbook provision requires publishing companies to reveal textbook prices to instructors, allowing them to choose the lower cost book option.

Previous to this provision, instructors were not given the cost of the textbook with the title of the book. With greater transparency, instructors have authority in reducing the cost of course materials for students. Publishers are also required to unbundle textbook packages. Offering a textbook bundled with a CD or pass code increases the price of the book.

Under the new provision, publishers must offer the textbook separate from the supplementary materials, including CDs and pass codes, giving students a less expensive book option.

A component of the provision aimed directly at colleges requires universities to provide a list of required textbooks to students during registration.

Providing students with the list of required textbooks prior to the beginning of the semester gives students ample time to research the best price of the required book. UTA is complying with the provision by posting the required course materials on MyMav. A book tab appears next to the name of the course when registering for classes online.

The amendment also requires publishers to inform faculty and bookstores if the course material is available in other formats, including paperback and unbounded versions.

The UTA Bookstore contains various formats of texts. The required textbook for Accounting 2301 is offered as an e-book for $112, a looseleaf text for $154.75, and bound book for $224.

Despite the amendments increase in transparency and unbundling requirements, rental services offer less expensive textbooks than purchasing.

The addition of Rent-a-Text to campus bookstores arose from the HEOA amendment, said Elio DiStaola, Follett campus relations director. The Follett Higher Education Group is the UTA Bookstore’s operator.

“The number one factor was the price of education,” DiStaola said.

He said implementing a rental service offered students a lower alternative to purchasing textbooks, which complies with the amendment’s intention to grant students’ access to affordable course materials.

“All of my books for the fall (taking 18 hours) are only going to be $180 in rental fees from Chegg. And their process is very easy. They give you two weeks after the end of the semester to return the books,” interdisciplinary studies sophomore Kenny Jacobs said.

“Textbooks cost so much simply because they can,” Jacobs said. “The publishers know that we need them and by design we, as students, are disadvantaged.”

Jacobs’ assertions about the power of publishers over students and faculty is what the textbook amendment intends to end according to Section 113 Part A of the amendment. The amendment disarms publishers by forcing them to disclose the price of textbooks to instructors.

Section 133, Part C states: “When a publisher provides a faculty member...in charge of selecting materials at an institution...the publisher shall include...the price at which the publisher would make the college textbook or supplementary material available to the bookstore.”

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