II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1384 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a demonstration 

program to support college and university communities that wish to 

expand their book store services and savings for students through the 

creation of course material rental programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2005 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish 

a demonstration program to support college and university communities that wish to expand their book store 

services and savings for students through the creation 

of course material rental programs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Affordable Books for 

5 College Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF BOOKSTORE COURSE MATE2 RIAL RENTAL PROGRAM. 

3 Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘PART E—COLLEGE BOOKSTORE RENTAL 

7 EXPANSION PROGRAM 

8 ‘‘SEC. 771. LOANS AUTHORIZED. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

10 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—From the amounts ap11 propriated pursuant to subsection (h), the Secretary 

12 shall make loans on a competitive basis to not more 

13 than 50 eligible entities to support programs that 

14 expand the services of bookstores to provide the op15 tion for students to rent course materials in order 

16 to achieve savings for students. 

17 ‘‘(2) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall 

18 award grants to eligible entities to enable such enti19 ties to conduct, prior to submitting an application 

20 under subsection (c), a feasibility study to determine 

21 whether a program described in paragraph (1) would 

22 be effective at the school served by the entity. The 

23 maximum amount of a grant made pursuant to this 

24 subsection shall be $25,000. 

25 ‘‘(3) MODELS FOR BEST PRACTICES.—Not less 

26 often than once every 2 years, the Secretary shall 
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1 compile and make publicly available a document that 

2 contains potential models and best practices for the 

3 use of entities carrying out college textbook rental 

4 programs. 

5 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.—In promul7 gating regulations to carry out the provision relating 

8 to the application procedures under subsection (c), 

9 the Secretary shall provide for a public comment pe10 riod for outside groups to review and comment on 

11 such procedures before they are finalized by the Sec12 retary. 

13 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The maximum 

14 amount of a loan made pursuant to this section shall 

15 be $2,500,000. The maximum amount for all loans 

16 made pursuant to this section shall be $50,000,000. 

17 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

18 obtain a loan under this part shall submit an application 

19 to the Secretary at such time, in such form, and con20 taining or accompanied by such information, agreements, 

21 and assurances as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

22 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—The funds made available by 

23 a loan under this part may be used for— 

24 ‘‘(1) purchase of course materials that the enti25 ty will make available by rent to students; 
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1 ‘‘(2) any equipment or software necessary for 

2 the conduct of a rental program; 

3 ‘‘(3) hiring staff needed for the conduct of a 

4 rental program, with priority given to hiring enrolled 

5 undergraduate students; and 

6 ‘‘(4) building or acquiring extra storage space 

7 dedicated to course materials for rent. 

8 ‘‘(e) AMOUNT AND TERMS OF LOANS.—The Sec9 retary shall prescribe the terms and conditions of the loans 

10 under this part, except that the interest rate shall be equal 

11 to the rate applicable to funds borrowed by the Secretary 

12 from the Treasury to carry out the demonstration pro13 gram under this part. 

14 ‘‘(f) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—To be eligible to receive a 

15 loan under this section, an entity shall be— 

16 ‘‘(1)(A) an institution of higher education; or 

17 ‘‘(B) a campus or local nonprofit or for-profit 

18 bookstore, a bookstore cooperative, or an auxiliary 

19 service unit; and 

20 ‘‘(2) if the entity is an entity described in para21 graph (1)(B), recognized by an institution of higher 

22 education as effectively delivering course materials 

23 to undergraduate college students. 

24 ‘‘(g) STUDY.—Not later than September 30, 2010, 

25 the Secretary shall conduct a study on the savings 
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1 achieved by students who participate in college textbook 

2 rental programs. 

3 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 

5 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006 and 

6 each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’.

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