Textbooks
Textbook prices are increasingly contributing to the growing lack of affordable education. The average student will spend nearly $900 each year on textbooks, and textbook prices have risen at twice the annual rate of inflation over the last two decades . The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the cost of textbooks as a percentage of tuition and fees is 26 percent for a full-time student attending a four-year public institution and 72 percent for a full-time student attending a two-year public institution.
In 2008 ASA worked to pass legislation that required textbook publishers to disclose their prices to professors. Our research showed that this was one of the most effective ways to lower the cost of textbooks for students.
This year ASA will continue to work on making textbooks more affordable. For more information on the national Make Textbooks Affordable campaign, click here