There are several moving parts swirling around the vortex of textbook affordability and the whole issue of reducing costs!

Recently the California State University Textbook Affordability Taskforce completed their report on improving access and reducing costs of textbook content. The report which aimed at identifying a number of recommendations in policies and practices as well as additional tools and services to enable both faculty and students to choose and use the best and most affordable content was produced with the hopes of assisting institutions in achieving the intellectual and academic goals of a CSU education. One interesting recommendation cited in the report suggests that the CSU should investigate whether California should consider legislation enacted in other states that would make textbooks exempt from sales tax.

However, the National Association of College Stores raised a concern with a couple of references and citations and therefore the taskforce members agreed to make some changes before finalizing the report. For a full copy of the report visit the CSU website.

In addition to the CSU report, the issue of textbook affordability has caught the attention of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) which last week approved without dissent or comment, an audit request by Senator Tom Harman of Costa Mesa for the Bureau of State Audits to audit the affordability of college textbooks in California’s public colleges and universities. The audit will cover four questions:

1. What forces are driving the market prices for textbooks? What role do publishers play in the market, particularly with regard to establishing prices? What incentives do publishers offer to market their books?
2. What role do California postsecondary institution processes play in the rising costs of textbooks? Have students voiced complaints regarding the escalating costs of textbooks and their inability to recoup costs by selling them used? What can students do to keep costs down?
3. How are required textbooks recommended for the various classes actually selected, evaluated and approved for the various classes? What measures do the institutions themselves take to keep the costs for textbooks down and minimize the number of revisions?
4. What policies and procedures do the CSU’s, UC, and CCC’s have in place to keep the costs of textbooks down and prevent “kickbacks” or other measures that contribute to the high costs of the textbooks? How do the institutions ensure that policies and procedures are complied with and that costs are kept to a minimum?

The Auditor indicated that they will spend about 3,190 hours and approximately $271,150 to complete the audit. JLAC has not published a completion date.

While CSU acknowledges the concerns regarding textbook affordability, the JLAC audit request seems to be adding a bit of redundancy, given other studies (e.g., the Taskforce report and the federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance). The CSU Textbook Affordability report addresses three of the four audit questions raised by Senator Harman and it should also be noted that the recent federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance textbook affordability study seems to cover all of the issues raised by Senator Harman, and the report highlighted in the CSU Digital Marketplace.

The federal report discusses the textbook market, provides a cost analysis and showcases many cost saving initiatives (see Turn the Page: Making College Textbooks More Affordable) The CSU believes the federal study recommendations are positive and supports the report’s recommendations on using the CSU textbook initiative as a template for the implementation of a national digital marketplace for textbooks.

In the meanwhile, there still remain two legislative proposals regarding textbooks that are being sent to the Governor. SB 832 (Corbett) requires each textbook publisher to provide prospective purchasers at public and private colleges and universities information regarding the cost of the book as well as information on the length the edition will be on the market before a new one is released. AB 1548 (Solorio) requires publishers and bookstores to disclose information about textbook costs to students, and requires faculty to follow specified practices in the adoption and purchase of textbooks. The CSU has no official position on either measure, as the authors have amended their bills to address our prior concerns.