“The Ohio legislature is considering a new bill that will help reduce the cost of college textbooks. Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, and Rep. Matt Patten, D-Strongsville, introduced the Textbook Affordability Act at a press conference Tuesday in order to lower textbook costs for Ohio’s public universities.”
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The Ohio legislature is considering a new bill that will help reduce the cost of college textbooks.

Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, and Rep. Matt Patten, D-Strongsville, introduced the Textbook Affordability Act at a press conference Tuesday in order to lower textbook costs for Ohio’s public universities.

We should be opening every possible door for our students, not chaining them to multiple semesters worth of burdensome and overwhelming debt brought on by overly expensive textbooks, Lundy said as reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The act would make many changes to publisher and bookstore policies.

Publishers would have to collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents to offer textbooks in e-book format. The proposed bill gives publishers two years to transfer their textbooks into electronic format.

Many publishers already offer books in e-book format. On average, an e-book costs about half the price of a textbook.

Students see the biggest break in the resale value of their textbooks. The plan proposes bookstores must offer at least 50 percent of the original cost of the text to sellers who bring their books in for buy backs at the end of the semester.

In addition, bookstores would be required to list the wholesale cost of new books in the store and online.

The plan bans the practice of bundling textbooks with supplemental materials like CDs or subscriptions. This practice often requires students to purchase unnecessary items.

The bill proposes a program for bookstores to buy commonly used textbooks in bulk at lower costs. The program also includes a plan for booksellers to pass that savings on to the customer.

Many students have found ways to manage the high cost of textbooks. Web-based booksellers like Amazon.com and Half.com offer textbooks at a fraction of the cost of college bookseller.

Copyright laws also allow some works to be published, viewed and printed free of charge. For example, works published before 1923 are now considered public domain.

The Barnes and Noble Bookstore in the Student Union was unavailable for comment on this new legislation.

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