No one ever said that college was going to be cheap, but no one ever said that the cost of college textbooks would have students in a stranglehold, either. Many students can spend over $500 in textbooks alone for a 15-credit semester. Luckily, the College Textbook Affordability Act will guarantee more money in students’ wallets after shopping for books.
“The cost of textbooks has always been outrageously high. They were when I was in school, and they are now,” says Susan Willey, Ph.D., an instructor of journalism at the Jupiter campus. “I try to limit the number of books I assign for each class, but in many cases, I post articles online and use PBS films on Blackboard. This cuts some [costs]. But textbooks are still very expensive. I feel for students in these tough economic times.”
The law was passed in 2008 and will drastically reduce the price of textbooks. It will make professors comply with assigning cheaper books or only material that is absolutely needed. For example, if a textbook comes with a CD that the class will not use, the professor would have to tell the class to buy the cheaper book, which does not include the CD.
Professors now have to allow for the cheaper, older edition of a book to be bought if there is only a slight difference between the content of the new and old editions.
In addition, the new law requires professors to post the list of books needed for the class at least 30 days before the first day of class so that students have the opportunity to find cheaper deals. The new law will also ensure textbook access for students who cannot afford books. Further, professors will not be allowed to assign their personally authored books and receive revenue. If the professor does not comply with the new law, he or she will be audited.
“The key component to lowering the cost of textbooks to students is the early adoption of the textbook. When this is accomplished, a couple of things can happen,” says Dennis Crudele, FAU’s associate vice president for Financial Affairs. “First, the duration of an adoption is very important. If a textbook can be adopted for a larger period of time, it will allow for more used textbooks to enter circulation and thus lower costs to the student.
“Secondly, by ordering in a timely manner, the student will be able to take advantage of the book buy-back [program] from the bookstore from the previous semester.”
Desiree Duarte, a junior in health studies, thinks the new law is great and will help lower her college expenses.
“With living costs and school payments — mainly books which my Florida Prepaid doesn’t cover — my money was tight. At least now I don’t have to worry as much about spending crazy amounts of money on textbooks. Plus, I can easily resell them at the end of the semester, since it seems used books are going to increase in popularity,” she says.
Students, who have all recently had their tuition and class fees raised, are sure to benefit from the new law.
