With textbook prices rising at twice the rate of inflation, every quarter presents a new challenge to college students who need to find a way to trim the fat off book prices.

Used books, Internet booksellers and bookstores located further from campus may be cheaper, but often students don't know until the first day of class which edition is required. They may wind up waiting to get the cheaper book, falling behind their better-heeled classmates who can afford the college bookstore price.

To address this problem, a bill being considered in the Legislature would require college bookstores to disclose specific information about texts four weeks before the first day of class. According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, the ranking minority member of the State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee, this would allow students to shop around online for the best price, bypassing the monopoly some college bookstores have.

Bookstores trying to "get more out of [students] through the books doesn't seem fair," Armstrong said.

Armstrong feels his strongest opposition to his bill could be from colleges, bookstores and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

"I've had some pretty hostile e-mails and communications from some of the college bookstores," Armstrong said.

One of those e-mails came from Bryan Pearce, CEO of the University of Washington Bookstore. Pearce criticized Armstrong's bill saying that his opinion of college bookstores "demonstrated a tremendous amount of ignorance" about how the UW bookstore serves its students.

In an interview, Pearce said that he was surprised at Rep. Armstrong's negative comments about the UW Bookstore because the UW Bookstore supports Armstrong's bill. He explained that although the UW Bookstore is a for-profit enterprise, it gives all money that is not necessary for operation back to the UW community, for instance by employing students and awarding scholarships.

"The beneficiaries of our trust are the students," Pearce said.

Pearce added that the real battle should be waged against publishing companies.

In a recent study conducted by the Government Accountability Office, a 2008 survey of Oregon and California states showed that the average student spent about $900 per year on textbooks. The same study showed that textbook prices have tripled since 1986 and the average price of a new edition is increasing at a rate of twice the rate of inflation. There was even evidence of price hikes of 21 percent between editions--three times inflation.

Textbook publishers said that the costs have increased to accommodate the highly fluid needs of higher education. The Government Accountability Office reported that the increase in costs was due to supplemental instructional aids, such as CDs, DVDs and other bundled course materials. According to the Public Interest Research Group, texts are reissued every 3.8 years on average. Updated texts usually get a graphic makeover and updated information.

The report showed that many students are buying their textbooks online through websites like Amazon.com and eCampus.com. Though students can get better prices when they shop around, they often get the wrong edition or receive the book after class has already begun.

House bill 1025 would require college bookstores to provide students with the option to purchase bundled or unbundled books when possible, disclose the cost to faculty, disclose publicly how new editions vary from older editions and actively publicize and promote book buy-back programs.

Babette Babich, textbook purchaser at EvCC bookstore, said, "that the goal is to have the book section finished by March 2." She went on to say that "It takes a lot to get the book requests from the faculty." The deadline for faculty to have their book requests in was on Feb. 6 but only about half of the faculty members turned in their book lists. It takes two to three weeks after the book lists are turned in before they can start searching for the books to purchase. When looking for textbooks Babich looks for by back books first then moves on to used book sellers and finally will go to publishers when all else fails.

Cable Green, director of eLearning for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, said federal legislation may make HB 1025 unnecessary.

According to Green, George W. Bush signed the Higher Education Opportunity Act last year. The act imposed more disclosure requirements than Washington's HB1025.

This federal legislation is "more comprehensive" than House Bill 1025, Green said.

Green said that there are two major provisions that distinguished HB 1025 from the federal legislation. The first is that the Higher Education Opportunity Act will take affect July 1st, 2010. If HB 1025 is passed, it would take affect 90 days after the end of this legislative session, in time for summer quarter book purchases.

The second difference is that HB 1025 would require bookstores and publishers to disclose textbook information four weeks prior to class. With the federal requirements, book information would be given to students when they register for classes. Green said this could be up to six weeks before the start of class.

When asked if the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges was still in favor of a bill that had similarities to the Higher Education Opportunity Act, Green said the board is in favor of it. He said that although there are similarities and the Higher Education Opportunity Act definitely trumps HB 1025 with its detail, it could still help students find cheaper books sooner than 2010.

We have an "interest in access for higher education," Green said. "Part of access is cost and textbooks are expensive."

When Rep. Armstrong was told that the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges did in fact support his bill, he seemed surprised. Armstrong said that he didn't originally feel as though his bill would be received very well by anyone in the education community.

"Now that is exciting; I'm glad to hear it."

According to language in HB 1025, the chief academic officer would have the power to waive the disclosure requirement on a case-by-case basis as long as students could expect that all information about the books would be available four weeks before the first day of class.

Green noted that the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges proposed an amendment to HB 1025 that suggested faculty members do their best to find comparable quality teaching materials at a lower price. Green gave the example of a website called physicsforfree.com. The site allows students to use the free site instead of a textbook.

For more information on HB 1025 please visit the following link http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1025&year=2009

For more information on the Higher Education Opportunity Act please visit the following link http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_publi...