By RFD Radio Network
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As college students enter the end of semester, their holiday giving list might be limited because of high textbook expenses.
In recent weeks, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin introduced The Affordable College Textbook Act, which is designed to help students manage costs by making high quality textbooks easily accessible to students, professors, and the public for free. Durbin says costs have been surging too far over the past decade.
“Textbook costs have been one of the most overlooked barriers to college affordability and access, and one of the drivers of student debt,” Durbin said. “From 2006 to 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index showed that consumer prices for college textbooks increased almost 90 percent. Between the time we last introduced the bill in 2015 and July 2016, the most recent data we have, prices increased only three percent.”
Durbin said textbook costs are forcing college students to make difficult choices.
“According to the college board, the average student budget for textbooks and supplies in the 2016-17 year was $1,250,” Durbin said. “According to a survey by the Student Public Interest Research Group, 65 percent of students decided not to buy a textbook because of the cost, and 94 percent of those students worried that it might hurt their grade.”
Durbin introduced the legislation in late September. It was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
