Affordable College Textbook Act

Bill 119 s 740, also known as the Open Textbook Pilot Act, aims to increase the availability and use of open textbooks in order to save students money and provide better information on textbook prices. Open textbooks are educational materials that are freely available online and can be accessed and used by anyone.

The bill proposes the creation of a pilot program that would award grants to institutions of higher education to support the adoption, use, and creation of open textbooks. These grants would be used to incentivize faculty to adopt open textbooks in their courses, as well as to support the development of new open textbooks.

The goal of the pilot program is to reduce the financial burden on students by providing them with free or low-cost textbooks. By increasing the use of open textbooks, students would no longer have to purchase expensive traditional textbooks, which can cost hundreds of dollars each semester. Additionally, the bill aims to improve transparency around textbook prices by requiring publishers to provide information on the cost of textbooks to faculty and students. This would help students make more informed decisions when purchasing textbooks and hold publishers accountable for the rising costs of educational materials. Overall, Bill 119 s 740 seeks to promote the use of open textbooks as a cost-effective and accessible alternative to traditional textbooks, ultimately benefiting students and improving the affordability of higher education.