The college textbook market is complex, with a number of parties involved in the development and distribution of course materials. First, publishers develop and produce textbooks and accompanying materials for faculty and students. Publishers then market their materials to faculty, school administrators, and sometimes academic departments that make decisions about what course materials to assign to students. Publishers employ sales representatives who often speak with instructors in person to discuss product options. They also provide instructors with free sample materials for their consideration. Publishers produce a variety of products and services for faculty to choose from in selecting course materials. In addition to traditional textbooks, faculty can work with publishers to create customized course materials by adding or deleting information from a single textbook or multiple sources. Faculty may also select supplemental materials, such as workbooks, lab activities, and study guides. Supplemental materials and textbooks may be sold together in one package, referred to as a bundle, and may also be available for sale separately. In addition to print versions, course materials are often available as digital products that can be accessed on computers or e-readers. Publishers have also developed online interactive systems that integrate multimedia instructional material with supplemental materials like homework or personalized quizzes and tutorials. Faculty or other designated parties select course materials and submit orders for them according to the process and time frames established by their school. Upon receiving information about selected materials and enrollment numbers from the school, campus bookstores determine how many to order and stock. These school-affiliated bookstores may include independent booksellers and large retail chains. They generally sell both new and used books, and some offer digital products and textbook rental programs. Many campus bookstores also have websites through which students can purchase or rent textbooks online. In addition to campus bookstores, students may be able to obtain course materials from a variety of sources. For example, students may purchase or rent course materials from online retailers, publishers, or through peer-to-peer exchanges, among other outlets. They may also borrow materials from libraries or peers. An emerging source of course materials is the open source model, in which textbooks and other materials are published under a license that allows faculty to personally adapt materials and students to access them for free or for a nominal cost. Table 1 below summarizes common options available for obtaining course materials. After completing a course, students may be able to offset their costs by selling back their course materials to the campus bookstore, online retailers, or wholesale companies. Bookstores generally buy as many used textbooks from their students as possible, but there are limits to what students can sell back. For example, electronic products are generally not eligible for resale because they are accessible through one- time access codes or downloading. Opportunities to sell back customized course materials may also be limited given their uniqueness to a particular course on a particular campus. In 2005, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we reported that new college textbook prices had risen at twice the rate of annual inflation over the course of nearly two decades, increasing at an average of 6 percent per year and following close behind increases in tuition and fees. More recent data show that textbook prices continued to rise from 2002 to 2012 at an average of 6 percent per year, while tuition and fees increased at an average of 7 percent and overall prices increased at an average of 2 percent per year. As reflected in figure 1 below, new textbook prices increased by a total of 82 percent over this time period, while tuition and fees increased by 89 percent and overall consumer prices grew by 28 percent. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes data annually on college textbook pricing, there are no comparable, nationally representative data sources that estimate student spending. Given the range of options for format and delivery of course materials, students are not limited to purchasing new, print books. Students may lower their costs by purchasing used or digital textbooks, renting materials, or taking advantage of other affordable options. However, the price of new, print books often drives the prices of other items. Specifically, as we reported in 2005, used textbook prices are directly linked to new textbook prices in that retailers typically offer used books for about 75 percent of the new, print price.offered at a discount based on the new, print price. Thus, while students may be able to find lower-priced options, increasing prices for new, print books will likely lead to similar price increases for other related course materials. In part to ensure that students have access to information about selected course materials, Congress included several provisions related to textbook information in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), as described below. When publishers provide faculty or others responsible for selecting course materials at schools with information about textbooks or supplemental material, they are required to provide the price at which they would make the textbook or supplemental material available to the school’s bookstore (often referred to as the net price) and, if available, to the public (often referred to as the retail price or the list price). They are also required to provide a description of substantial content revisions between the current and prior edition, the copyright dates of the three prior editions, if any, and any alternate formats available, along with their net prices and retail price, if available. 20 U.S.C. § 1015b(c). While publishers may suggest retail prices, retailers determine the final price at which to sell the materials. Schools are generally required to disclose information on textbooks to students and campus bookstores. Specifically, to the maximum extent practicable, in their online course schedules, schools are to provide the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and retail price for required and recommended material for each course listed in the schedule used for preregistration and registration purposes, with some exceptions. If the ISBN is not available, schools are to provide the author, title, publisher, and copyright date in the schedule. If disclosing the required information is not practicable, the school is to list it as “to be determined” (TBD) on the course schedule. In addition to making these disclosures on the course schedule, schools are to provide their affiliated bookstores with the same information, along with enrollment data for each course as soon as practicable upon the request of the bookstore. Beyond these requirements, HEOA encourages schools to provide information to students about institutional textbook rental programs, buyback programs, and any other cost-saving strategies. Figure 2 illustrates the types of information communicated throughout the process of selecting and ordering course materials. In addition to the disclosure requirements, HEOA requires publishers to make college textbooks and materials sold together in a bundle available for sale individually, a practice referred to as unbundling (see fig. 3). While each component must be available individually, publishers may continue to sell course materials in bundles. This requirement does not apply in the case of integrated textbooks. These are books with related materials that are either governed by a third-party contract that prohibits their separation, such as those produced by another company, or are so interrelated that the components would be unusable on their own. For example, a computer software textbook may include multimedia content that is essential to understanding the book. HEOA prohibits Education from issuing regulations related to the textbook information section of the law. While Education therefore has a limited role in this area, it provided some early nonregulatory guidance to help publishers and schools understand the textbook provisions. In addition, Education encourages students to consider textbook costs in preparing for college and collects student complaints, including those related to textbooks. The eight publishers included in this study have disclosed textbook information including retail prices, available alternative formats, and descriptions of substantial content revisions between editions. Seven publishers also provided net prices and six provided information on prior copyright dates to faculty. Two smaller publishers told us they did not have a practice of disclosing prior copyright dates, and one said net pricing was not part of its business practices. Publishers included in this study have communicated this information to faculty online and in other marketing materials, as well as in the course materials themselves. In most cases, publishers’ textbook information was available to students and the public, in addition to faculty. For example, all eight publishers chose to disclose retail prices and format options in publicly accessible areas of their websites. Representatives from one of these publishers stated the company’s intent in making the information publicly available was to increase transparency. Another publisher chose to disclose net pricing information to faculty on a restricted-access website—a decision representatives said was meant to avoid public confusion about the difference between net and retail prices. Instead of using a website, representatives from another publisher said they primarily use marketing materials distributed directly to faculty to disclose net pricing and format information. In addition, publishers provided some required information in the course materials themselves. For example, five of eight publishers disclosed prior copyright dates on the inside pages of textbooks. See figure 4 for the types of information publishers disclosed and the methods they utilized for doing so. Representatives of the majority of publishers included in our study said disclosing required textbook information involved process changes that took initial investments of time and financial resources. Some publishers told us they made changes to their technology and production systems, as well as their marketing practices. For example, representatives from two publishers said they had to change their internal databases to include all the textbook information specified in HEOA. Four publishers also told us they conducted extensive training with staff about HEOA implementation. Despite the changes publishers made to disclose required textbook information, four publishers did not view the costs directly associated with implementing HEOA as substantial. All publishers included in this study have made bundled materials available for sale individually, which is a requirement of HEOA. In some cases, publishers said they began phasing out bundles before HEOA’s passage in 2008, which we also noted in our 2005 report. For example, one publisher told us it made the decision to make its bundled products available for sale individually prior to HEOA’s enactment because it wanted to be more transparent about its product offerings.