Feb 8, 2008 11:32 am US/Mountain
Students Push For Cheaper College Textbooks
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Students at Colorado State University and other colleges in the state are working with lawmakers to pass a bill to make textbooks more affordable. The groups said the average coast of college textbooks for a student is currently $900.
Students blame book publishers for the rising costs of textbooks. A national group cites government figures that show textbook prices have jumped four times the rate of inflation in the past decade.
"The new editions definitely kill us," said Kristin Breed, a CSU senior who said she spent more than $800 on books for her final year. "So when a new edition cones out you're required to buy a new book."
"We received more than 1,000 letters from students urging us to pursue this legislation," said state Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins.
Kefalas and state Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, said college students from campuses across the state initiated the proposal to make textbook publishers tell professors the book price. They would also have to tell instructors how much material in a new edition is actually new.
"Needless new editions of textbooks continue to come out year after year when, fundamentally, no new information is in those books," said Blake Gibson of the Associated Students of Colorado.
"(The bill) allows for and requires that they put the history of revisions that are in this book," said Tupa. "If it's just a new cover, you should not be paying 50 bucks more for the exact same material."
The bill would also require textbooks sold as a bundle with other teaching materials to be available unbundled as well.
CSU said it supports the effort to control textbook costs.
A textbook publishers' trade group did not return a call from CBS4 for comment.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are also considering a federal version similar to Colorado's proposal.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
