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# SUMMARY OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FIELD HEARING

**PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY**

**PORTLAND, OREGON**

**BACKGROUND**

The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance (Advisory
Committee) serves as an independent source of advice and counsel to
Congress and the Secretary of Education on student financial aid policy.
It was established by Congress through the Higher Education Amendments
of 1986 and began operation in 1988. The congressional mandate requires
that the Advisory Committee conduct objective, nonpartisan, and
independent analyses on important aspects of the student assistance
programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.

According to its authorizing statute, the purpose of the Advisory
Committee is to provide extensive knowledge and understanding of the
federal, state, and institutional programs of postsecondary student
assistance and to provide technical expertise with regard to systems of
need analysis and application forms. In addition, the Advisory Committee
is required to make recommendations that will result in the maintenance
of access to postsecondary education for low- and moderate-income
students. Throughout its existence, the Advisory Committee has examined
the barriers to access confronting such students and translated research
on access and persistence into policy solutions for enhancing student
assistance programs at the federal, state, and institutional levels.

*The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance (Advisory
Committee) is a Federal advisory committee chartered by Congress,
operating under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA); 5 U.S.C.,
App. 2). The Advisory Committee provides advice to the Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Education on student financial aid policy. The
findings and recommendations of the Advisory Committee do not represent
the views of the Agency, and this document does not represent
information approved or disseminated by the Department of Education.*

## PURPOSE OF THE HEARING

To hear from the public and the higher education community regarding its
congressionally requested textbook study, the Advisory Committee held a
one-day field hearing to gather information and commentary. In a letter
to the Advisory Committee dated May 26, 2006, the Study on the
Affordability of College Textbooks was requested by U.S. House Committee
on Education and Labor (formerly the Committee on Education and the
Workforce) members Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) (then Chairman) and
David Wu (D-OR) citing concerns about the rising cost of college
textbooks compounding the overall financial barriers that hinder access
to a college degree. A primary objective of the study is examining
recommendations on ways to make textbooks more affordable,
recommendations that will be part of the Advisory Committee's final
report to Congress in May 2007.

The Study on the Affordability of College Textbooks was launched at the
Advisory Committee's September 19, 2006 hearing in Washington DC. The
Oregon field hearing is the last of three field hearings to gather
information for the study; the first field hearing was held in Chicago,
Illinois on December 18, 2006, and the second was held in Santa Clarita,
California on March 5, 2007.

The Oregon hearing's first session brought together bookstore
representatives, faculty, technology specialists, and student
representatives in order to ensure that a broad range of perspectives
was heard on what can be done, and is being done, by different
stakeholders to reduce the financial burden of textbooks on students.

The second session of the hearing provided an opportunity for various
stakeholders to provide additional ideas and points of view to Advisory
Committee members. Participants included faculty, students, and
technology specialists.

## HEARING PARTICIPANTS

**Session I: *Congressionally Requested Study to Make College Textbooks
More Affordable***

***Presenters:** Dr.* [*Michael Sonnleitner,*](mailto:msonnlei@pcc.edu)
*Political Science Instructor, Textbook Taskforce Chair, Portland
Community College*

> *Mr. Bryan Pearce, Chief Executive Officer, University Book Store,
> University of Washington*
>
> *Mr. David Rosenfeld, Program Director, Student Public Interest
> Research Groups*
>
> *Mr. Ken Brown, President and CEO, Portland State University
> Bookstore*
>
> *Dr. Mark R. Nelson, Digital Content Strategist, National Association
> of College Stores*
>
> *Dr. Gerard L. Hanley, Executive Director, MERLOT, Senior Director,
> Academic Technology Services, California State University Office of
> the Chancellor*
>
> *Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk, Victor E. Cameron Professor, Electrical and
> Computer Engineering Department, Rice University*
>
> *Mr. Fred Beshears, Former Senior Strategist, Educational Technology
> Services, University of California, Berkeley*
>
> *Mr. Bart Stewart, Technology Specialist, Addison Wesley/Benjamin
> Cummings*

**Session II: *Public Comment and Discussion***

***Presenters:** Mr. John Arle, Instructor, Biology Department, Phoenix
College, and Faculty Mentor, A&P Wiley Faculty Networks*

> *Ms. Jolene Willson, Campaign Coordinator, Make Textbooks Affordable
> Campaign, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, Portland State
> University*
>
> *Mr. Brian Lynch, Chief Operating Officer, Railway Media*
>
> *Ms. Megan Driver, Board Chair, Oregon Student Association, Director
> of State Affairs Task Force, Associated Students of Oregon State
> University*

**Session I: *Congressionally Requested Study to Make College Textbooks
More Affordable***

Session one had a dual focus: the first group of panelists described
current local efforts to make textbooks more affordable for college
students. The second group discussed the various ways technology can be
used to reduce textbook costs.

Prior to the panelists' testimony, Dr. Shawn Smallman, Vice Provost for
Instruction and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Portland State
University (PSU), welcomed the Advisory Committee to the institution on
behalf of the President of PSU. PSU understands that the cost of
textbooks is an important issue affecting students.

Congressman David Wu then provided the keynote address. Representative
Wu has heard more about the high cost of college textbook from students
in Oregon and around the country than about any other education issue.
Rather than move directly to legislation as a means of addressing
textbook costs, he and Representative Howard P. "Buck" McKeon asked the
Advisory Committee to conduct the textbook study to further evaluate the
issue. Any proposed solutions to the problem of textbook costs will need
to respect academic freedom, the role of students, and the position of
all stakeholders involved.

The first panelist was Dr. [Michael
Sonnleitner,](mailto:msonnlei@pcc.edu) Political Science Instructor and
Textbook Taskforce Chair, Portland Community College (PCC), who spoke
about PCC's textbook taskforce, created in 2006 to address textbook
costs for the 90,000 students that attend PCC. The taskforce, composed
of students, faculty, and staff, developed ten recommendations geared
towards the institution and ten recommendations for faculty and staff.
One of the recommendations was to create an office to assist faculty in
obtaining copyright permission for instructional material. This could
save faculty time in acquiring needed materials and increase the amount
of material available to students. Creation of such an office is
contingent on receiving necessary funding from the state. Other
recommendations urged PCC officials to work with state and federal
policymakers to offer a tax credit to students for textbooks and related
costs, to take action to remove bans on purchasing textbooks from
vendors outside the U.S., and to limit royalties as they can be
increased to raise the profit on textbooks. In addition, the taskforce
recommended that free sample copies given to faculty by publishers
become the property of the PCC library reserve system. This prevents
faculty from selling the books, as such sales hurt publishers, and it
makes more textbooks available to students for free.

Mr. Bryan Pearce, Chief Executive Officer, University Book Store,
University of Washington (UW) explained how the University Book Store's
organization as a corporate trust helps reduce textbook costs for
students. As a corporate trust, the bookstore is independent and is run
by a board of directors that includes students, faculty, and UW
administrators. The bookstore is able to set lower prices on textbooks
based on the expected annual profit the store will generate from the
sale of other merchandise. On average, textbook sales at other college
bookstores constitute 58 percent of all sales; however, textbook sales
at the University Bookstore constitute only 37 percent. In addition, the
bookstore offers an annual patronage rebate, need-based textbook
scholarships, special discounts, a textbook giveaway program, and a free
online textbook exchange program. Mr. Pearce also discussed recent
legislative efforts in the state of Washington to waive sales tax on
textbooks, and to require publishers to disclose wholesale prices and
revision histories to faculty. Last year, a comprehensive textbook bill
for community colleges was introduced that would address bundling and
the need for increased communication among faculty, bookstores, and
publishers to reduce textbook costs.

Mr. David Rosenfeld, Program Director, Student Public Interest Research
Groups (Student PIRGs), spoke about the organization's efforts to reduce
textbook costs and the result of those efforts. In 2003, the Student
PIRGs started the Make Textbooks Affordable Campaign, which has become a
nationwide effort. The campaign involves researching the issue of high
textbook costs, educating faculty and students, developing a national
online textbook exchange site
([www.CampusBookSwap.com](http://www.CampusBookSwap.com/)), examining
how to implement textbook rental programs, and creating sample
legislation that states can use as they explore the issue. These efforts
have resulted in increased awareness of textbook costs and a better
understanding of ways to respond. However, states, institutions, and
academic associations are best poised to effectively implement solutions
on a larger scale. Mr. Rosenfeld also addressed future solutions
involving technology. From his experience, students seem divided in
their preference for traditional print textbooks or electronic versions
of textbooks. Although it is yet to be decided whether technological
solutions will play a key role in this issue, electronic materials that
are high quality, provide open access, and are available in print
versions hold the greatest potential for student satisfaction and cost
reduction.

Mr. Ken Brown, President and CEO, Portland State University (PSU)
Bookstore, described the work of his bookstore to reduce college
textbook costs. The PSU Bookstore began as a student cooperative and
attained nonprofit status in 2005. It is operated by a board of
directors composed of students, faculty, staff, and other professionals.
The bookstore uses money it would have paid in taxes to reduce the
profit margin on textbooks and provide need-based textbook scholarships
in partnership with PSU. Last year, students saved between \$60,000 and
\$70,000 overall due to reduced profit margins. Many of the textbook
scholarships go to first generation students and those who are single
parents. In addition, the bookstore has a strong used textbook and
buy-back program; more than 30 percent of textbooks sold are used, and
last year the buy-back program paid out \$1 million to students. Mr.
Brown also discussed rental programs. Although such programs help
students save on textbooks, they also increase overhead costs for the
bookstore and institution. The savings provided to students is generated
when faculty agree to use the same textbook for a longer period of time
and when the institution agrees to receive less revenue from textbooks.
These steps can be accomplished without a rental program by the
bookstore working with faculty and administrators to achieve the same
objectives.

Dr. Mark R. Nelson, Digital Content Strategist, National Association of
College Stores, discussed the role emerging technologies can play in
making textbooks more affordable. While many forms of technology are
applied to textbooks, such as custom publishing, electronic textbooks,
print on demand, open courseware, and digital learning objects, no
existing technological innovation has achieved a tipping point that
would make it widely accepted. For digital technology to be successful,
copyright challenges need to be addressed, as well as digital divide
issues among students, and technical and cultural issues pertaining to
user abilities and expectations. In addition, economic issues related to
reducing the cost of content will need to be resolved. In the short
term, technological options are not likely to provide the solutions
students and faculty are looking for, as costs for such options may
still be too high. In the long term, once standards are established and
production and distribution processes are more efficient, technological
options will be able to provide needed solutions. There will likely be a
dominant model, and the transformation to a digital solution will likely
impact both higher education and K-12. In the meantime, print on demand
is an option for accessing digital content at a low cost.

Dr. Gerard L. Hanley, Executive Director, MERLOT, Senior Director,
Academic Technology Services, California State University (CSU) Office
of the Chancellor, described the goals of two of CSU's initiatives to
help reduce textbook costs: to enhance learning and teaching processes
through the use of technology, and to increase academic success. The
first initiative is the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and
Online Teaching (MERLOT). MERLOT is an online repository of digital
content supported by an international cooperative of educational
institutions, associations, and organizations, as well as individual
partners. Created in 1997, MERLOT is free and available to anyone. The
site, which is visited 60,000 times per month, has more than 16,000
digital learning and teaching materials that undergo peer review by
editorial boards. Information about the author, content quality, and any
user comments are provided for each piece of material. Users are able to
customize materials and create their own personal collection of content.
The second initiative is the CSU digital marketplace, a site that will
connect faculty and students with traditional publishers and other types
of content providers in one central electronic location. The site will
enable many different functions such as free exchange, peer-to-peer
sharing, access to free services and library-style collections, and the
ability to purchase learning materials directly from producers and
vendors through formats similar to Ebay.com and Amazon.com. CSU is
working with many education, technology, and publishing partners on this
initiative and plans to make its digital marketplace available in pilot
form by the fall of 2007.

Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk, Victor E. Cameron Professor, Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department, Rice University, and the founder of
Connexions, made a presentation on Connexions, an online repository of
educational materials and information. These materials come in a range
of forms, from digital learning objects to "born" digital content to
full web courses. Connexions is an inclusive community that invites
users to "create, rip, mix, and burn" -- meaning that users can create
learning content for others to use, "rip" or translate and customize
existing content on the site, "mix" or combine existing content to
create a full course, and "burn" or print the content. Connexions offers
a print on demand service that prints and binds the content combination
selected by users into a paperback or hardcover, full-color traditional
textbook for a very affordable price. For example, a 300-page textbook
costs \$25 rather than \$125. In the month of March, Connexions was used
by over 600,000 people in nearly 200 different countries speaking many
different languages. Over 60 million items on the site are licensed
through Creative Commons to protect intellectual property. The content
is always up to date. Rice University Press plans to reopen this year as
a digital press through Connexions.

Mr. Fred Beshears, Former Senior Strategist, Educational Technology
Services, University of California, Berkeley, explained his idea for
developing a new business model to provide students with affordable,
quality educational content. Institutions should form a cooperative to
purchase electronic educational content from Open University (OU) in the
United Kingdom. An average of \$3 million is invested in the development
of every online course at OU, with as many as 40 people working to
create high quality course content. OU spends \$75 million a year on
online course development. If 1,000 institutions pay a \$75,000 fee per
year to OU for access to its course materials, then a school such as the
University of California, Berkeley, which has 23,000 undergraduates,
could pass on savings to students in the form of a \$3.25 course
materials fee. The available course content could be used for the 100
largest courses at an institution, and faculty could still have the
option of using other materials.

Mr. Bart Stewart, Technology Specialist, Addison Wesley/Benjamin
Cummings, spoke on MyMathLab (MML), a series of online courses that
correspond to Pearson textbooks and provide learning aids, assignments,
and assessments. MML has effectively increased student success and
retention. While most students purchase MML for themselves, institutions
can also purchase it and thereby help students save on textbook costs.
Publishers are continually striving to meet the learning needs of
students and the demands of the market by using technology to better
deliver learning materials. Mr. Stewart suggested that educational
materials in the future will likely be more modularized, personalized,
and accessible.

**Session II: *Public Comment and Discussion***

The focus of session two was on hearing from individuals who requested
to contribute to the discussion on textbook affordability. These
participants spoke on additional efforts being made in Oregon at the
student, faculty, institutional, and retail levels to make textbooks and
other instructional materials more affordable for students.

Mr. John Arle, Instructor, Biology Department, Phoenix College, and
Faculty Mentor, A&P Wiley Faculty Networks, discussed his move in his
courses from traditional textbooks to the sole use of electronic
materials. Students still have the option to purchase print textbooks if
they prefer, but the electronic materials are one-third the cost of
traditional print materials. In the past his students spent \$240 on a
bundled textbook, but this year they spent \$72 on electronic materials.
Student achievement levels have remained constant despite the change in
the type of instructional content.

Ms. Jolene Willson, Campaign Coordinator, Make Textbooks Affordable
Campaign, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG), Portland
State University (PSU), spoke on the role of professors in determining
textbook costs, as well as the textbook resolution recently accepted by
the PSU faculty senate. The textbook resolution encouraged faculty to
choose more affordable course materials when possible; identify prices
prior to book selection; turn textbook orders into the bookstore on
time; use the same textbook for at least three years if possible; and
have unbundled materials, no-frill textbooks, and reserve materials
available. She expressed her hope that these recommendations might be
adopted by the Oregon Board of Higher Education as there is a need for
continued awareness of textbook costs. Student advocacy is only one part
of the solution; national recommendations would be useful.

Mr. Brian Lynch, Chief Operating Officer, Railway Media, described how
an electronic reader called the Iliad offers educational content to
students in an affordable way. Electronic books, newspaper
subscriptions, and other information can be downloaded from the Internet
and stored on the Iliad. The device has a wireless connection; the
ability to transfer handwritten notes into digital text; a stable,
non-flickering screen; and storage for dozens of e-books. Between use of
the Iliad and the cost of electronic textbooks, students could reduce
overall textbook costs by almost 50 percent over four years. Mr. Lynch
proposed that institutions implement this electronic reader through a
pilot program to determine how it can best meet the needs of students.

Ms. Megan Driver, Board Chair, Oregon Student Association, Director of
State Affairs Task Force, Associated Students of Oregon State
University, described the financial burden textbooks place on Oregon
students. Among the states, Oregon has the highest percentage of
students who take out loans to pay for college, and it is very common
for students to share textbooks in order to save money. State
legislation (SB 365) has been proposed to improve transparency regarding
textbook costs and to require that the components of bundled course
materials also be available for individual purchase. Ms. Driver
expressed the wish that Congress would act to help all students on this
issue.