New Missouri Law Takes Aim at Rising College Textbook Costs
Before ordering a textbook or requiring that students shell out money for a new edition, college and university professors in Missouri will now be armed with two important pieces of information: the wholesale price of the book and exactly what changes have been made from one edition to another.
The Textbook Transparency Act, which Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed into law last week, will allow professors to compare book content and choose cheaper textbooks as long as the new textbook material doesn’t provide less educational value, according to an Associated Press article (“Mo. Law Could Lower College Textbook Costs,” June 29, 2008).
The act will also allow students to choose whether or not to buy the supplemental CDs and workbooks that are generally bundled with textbooks — a measure that is designed to cut down on students’ rising education costs.
The average college student spends $900 a year on textbooks and the wholesale price of college textbooks has increased 32.8 percent since 1998, almost double the 18 percent rise in cost for regular books, according to the National Association of College Stores.
“I think [the price increase] is completely outrageous,” says Craig Stevenson, a University of Missouri student who lobbied for the textbook bill.
Missouri’s law is modeled after similar legislation passed in California, Washington, and Arizona.
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