The new textbook provision to the HEOA (Higher Education Opportunity Act), effective July 1, requires college textbook publishers to disclose textbook pricing information to professors and faculty and offer contents of bundles, items sold as a set, separately. The law also mandates schools inform students of required textbooks during registration.

Among these requirements, the federal law also mandates publishers provide descriptions of changes between previous and current editions. This means professors will know how different the recent edition is from the last edition. Hopefully, it will aid professors in their decision not to require students purchase unnecessary new editions.

The textbook provision is helpful and the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board is in support of it, but the law will not fix the market. The textbook market is like no other. In a regular market, consumers affect pricing because they have choice and can choose the better and more affordable products. In the textbook market, professors have the choice, based upon information publishers provide.

To top it off, professors have a limited number of publishers to choose from, which leads to less competitive pricing. In the textbook market, students always need textbooks and they’re obligated to purchase the books their professors require for class. Publishers are not the only ones aware of this; bookstore retailers like Follett use this predicament to their advantage, too.

The DN encourages students to contact the Student Public Interest Research Groups that aid in consumer protection. Since 2003, Student PIRGs have exercised a “Make Textbooks Affordable” campaign, which helped bring the textbook law into play. Student PIRGs establish rental programs, help pass laws and promote “open textbooks,” which are free textbooks online.

Higher education is expensive enough already. Students do not need money-grabbing corporations taking their money, too. The Daily Nebraskan will be using the opportunities for research afforded by the new textbook law to the fullest. Expect the DN to follow up on textbook sales and investigate other items in the textbook provision in the weeks and months ahead.