Affordable College Textbook Act

Summary#

The bill is called the Affordable College Textbook Act. It creates a competitive grant program at the Department of Education to help colleges and consortia expand use of open textbooks and other open educational resources (OER). Grant applications must be developed with faculty input and include plans to promote and track OER use, fill gaps when OER do not exist, review quality and accuracy, train faculty, update materials, and make materials accessible to students with disabilities. Works created with grant funds must be released under a royalty-free, perpetual license requiring only attribution and must be posted online in machine-readable, downloadable, editable formats. The bill also changes Higher Education Act reporting rules to require course schedules to show ISBN (when available), retail price, fees, whether materials are OER, and for digital materials a summary of publisher data-collection terms. Institutions must help campus bookstores obtain course-material information. The Secretary of Education must report annually to Congress on materials created, adoption, savings, and impacts. The Comptroller General must report within three years on textbook costs, OER use, and implementation of the law.

What it means for you#

• Students: Course listings would show whether required or recommended materials are open resources and list prices when available, which can help you find lower-cost options. The bill aims to increase availability of free, editable textbooks online. It does not guarantee specific savings amounts.
• Faculty and staff: Colleges can apply for grants to support faculty training, create or adapt open textbooks, review quality, and update materials. Faculty maintain academic freedom to choose course materials, but the bill encourages considering OER.
• Institutions and bookstores: Colleges must provide course-material information to affiliated bookstores. Materials created with grant funds must be shared publicly in accessible formats.

Expenses#

Grant projects are paid from amounts appropriated to the program. The bill authorizes "such sums as are necessary" for the grant program. There is no publicly available information in the bill text about specific funding levels, total costs, or estimated savings.

Proponents' View#

The bill text states that high textbook costs are a barrier to higher education and that open educational resources can reduce costs. It cites a College Board figure for the average student budget for books and supplies ($1,290 for 4-year public institutions for 2024–2025) and a Student PIRGs estimate that expanded OER use could save students more than a billion dollars annually. The bill says federal investment in OER has lowered textbook costs and made efficient use of funds, and emphasizes that materials should be accessible to people with disabilities.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.