Newsroom

Denver –Today, two larger-than-life textbook mascot characters joined forces with students at Auraria to rally support for solutions to therapidly rising cost of textbooks.  The mascots visited the campus as part of a six-week, cross-country tour organized by the ‘Textbook Rebellion,’ a coalition of students, faculty and organizations in support of affordable textbooks that CoPIRG helped launch earlier this year.

"Textbook prices have been skyrocketing more than four times the rate of inflation, and it’s become a serious issue for many students and their families,” said Madalia Maaliki, CoPIRG's Affordable Textbooks Campaign Coordainator. “However, solutions are out there. Between used books, rental programs and longer-term alternatives like open textbooks, there is potential to reduce costs dramatically –we just need to raise awareness.”

Over the next two months, the Textbook Rebellion will visit 40 campuses nationwide collecting signatures on a petition that will help educate professors about affordable options and call on decision-makers to support cost-reducing solutions.  The petition specifically highlights ‘open textbooks,’part of the growing movement for Open Educational Resources, which are learning materials made freely available for everyone to use.

“Open Educational Resources are critical in helping us meet the President’s 2020 goal: to make America number one in the world for college graduates,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a statement released at the launch of the Textbook Rebellion tour. “These free resources can create high- quality educational opportunities for students, veterans and returning workers, grow our economy, and help us out-educate, out-innovate and outcompete the rest of the world.”

The event generated petition signatures and the campaign is on track to meet its national goal of 10,000 signatures by mid-October.

“Students are really suffering,” said Maaliki.  “However, students are also in a position to usher in change.  The Textbook Rebellion tour is an opportunity to participate in the movement and to raise awareness of new options, like open textbooks, are already out there today.”
   
The latest research from CoPIRG underscores the urgent need to reduce textbook costs.  An alarming 70% of students surveyed this spring reported not purchasing one or more of their assigned textbooks because the cost was too high.  Of those students, 78% said they generally believed that they would do worse in their courses without the required materials. 

The College Board estimates that the average student will spend $1,137 on textbooks each year.  The Government Accountability Office found that textbook costs are comparable to 26% of tuition at public four-year colleges and 72% of tuition at community colleges.  Unnecessary new editions, expensive bundles and e-books that expire are common publishing industry tactics that have been found to increase costs.