Political Quotes

“when we talk about college affordability, the discussion typically focuses on tuition costs, Pell grants and student loans. But we cannot talk about college affordability without also including college textbook costs in the same conversation. Picture a bright, hard-working college student at the beginning of a new term. The student, who comes from a family of modest means, has managed to pay for tuition through a combination of grants, scholarships, student loans and part-time work. The student goes to her college bookstore to buy her textbooks. She walks out of the bookstore with her textbooks and wonders how she will be able to pay the $500 charge she just put on her credit card to buy the required books for her classes. According to GAO, college textbook prices have risen an average of six percent each year since 1987 and at twice the rate of annual inflation over the last two decades. Textbook prices have been following increases in tuition and fees. Since December of 1986, textbook prices have increased by 186 percent and tuition and fees grew by 240 percent. GAO found that the primary contributing factor is the investment publishers have made to develop and produce supplemental materials such as CDs and Web-based tutorials.”