Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Al Franken of Minnesota have started a bill that will help reduce the costs of material needed for higher education. The bill, The Affordable College Textbook Act, plans to help students by making material that they need for introductory courses open for anyone to use by putting the material online.  

According to College Board, an online resource that helps give students information about higher education in the U.S., reported that in the 2014-2015 school year the average price of school supplies, including textbooks, was $1,225. They also reported that as many as 65 percent of students never purchase the materials needed for courses due to the price of textbooks, which has increased 85 percent in the past ten years.

“The reality is that our college students are taking on more debt than ever while also working more and more hours to stay afloat,” Franken said. “When it comes to paying for college, one thing that’s often overlooked is the rising cost of textbooks and supplies. By expanding access to free online textbooks, our bill would help address this problem and allow students and families to keep more of their hard-earned money.”

In a conference call with Durbin, Franken, Ethan Senack, an advocate for higher education and a member of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), said that many college textbook publishers create a “captive market” for textbooks, meaning students have no choice but to pay the high prices for the material for classes. Seneck feels this is something that is hurting the population of people trying to obtain their higher education.

“We need to do our best to make sure our best and brightest aren’t being priced out of college,”  Senack said.

The act is designed to allow schools to apply for grants which then can be used to create material for students and instructors to use for courses, whatever the subject may be. The information can be used by any student from any college in the country for free.

College of DuPage Bookstore manager Jim Sexton feels that this act will be something that COD’s bookstore will be able to incorporate into COD’s curriculum without the school or students losing any material beneficial for students to have to succeed.

“The bookstore has always been able to keep up with changes with online material and textbooks,” Sexton said. “Obviously our main goal is to help save students money.”

This act has been tested at University of Illinois (U of I), where an online textbook was created and open to any students taking the specific course at U of I and at other schools in the nation. The reported number of students that used this book was over 60,000 from all colleges in the country in a school year.

COD freshman Jamie Barnes feels that the benefits of the act would impact students who never taking into consideration the added costs of textbooks and supplies needed for higher education.

“I personally think this would be a beneficial thing to not only myself, but also to numerous college students,” Barnes said. “Registering for classes is expensive as it is, so adding a few hundred dollars for textbooks on top of that is tough. Having access to free online material would give a lot of students leeway to put that money towards other things that could enhance their education.”

If passed, the act will provide college students across the nation, including COD students, with predetermined materials at no cost. Instructors will be encouraged to create lesson plans and course work based off of the free resources created by the colleges. This in turn helps lower the cost that many don’t think of when applying to college; the cost of textbooks.