Board (ICCB), surveyed all community colleges and public universities, distributedquesti<strong>on</strong>naires to 49 third-party bookstores, and sent questi<strong>on</strong>naires to <strong>the</strong> Associati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong>American Publishers, Follett Corporati<strong>on</strong>, Barnes and Noble College Bookstores, <strong>the</strong> IllinoisRetail Merchants Associati<strong>on</strong>, and <strong>the</strong> Nati<strong>on</strong>al Associati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> College Stores. A draft report wassent to all public colleges and universities and o<strong>the</strong>r interested parties in early December for <strong>the</strong>irreview, as well as posted <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>IBHE</strong> website for public comment.This study c<strong>on</strong>cludes that a statewide textbook rental program for public colleges anduniversities would reduce costs for students and yield o<strong>the</strong>r benefits, such as ensuring that allstudents have access to required books and materials. The study fur<strong>the</strong>r documents that rentalprograms could be financially feasible if – a big if – funding for <strong>the</strong> very substantial initial startupcosts is secured. However, bey<strong>on</strong>d <strong>the</strong> formidable financial obstacles, certain barriers andlimitati<strong>on</strong>s would likely restrict <strong>the</strong> practicability <strong>of</strong> universal rental programs, including issues <strong>of</strong>faculty acceptance, academic freedom, access to textbooks for <strong>on</strong>line and <strong>of</strong>f-campus students,am<strong>on</strong>g o<strong>the</strong>rs. In any event, <strong>the</strong> study dem<strong>on</strong>strates that to be successful, textbook rentalprograms require:• mandatory student fees to support <strong>on</strong>going operati<strong>on</strong>s (and perhaps debt service),• c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> increased student financial aid for low-income students,• c<strong>on</strong>sensus am<strong>on</strong>g administrators, faculty, and students that a textbook rental programcan reduce students costs without sacrificing academic quality,• substantial investment to cover start-up costs,• adequate storage space for textbook inventories, and• agreement <strong>on</strong> textbook adopti<strong>on</strong> policies and time frames.A potentially more practical path for addressing textbook costs might c<strong>on</strong>sist <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r costsavingmeasures explored by this study. Am<strong>on</strong>g <strong>the</strong> opti<strong>on</strong>s available to <strong>the</strong> state, to instituti<strong>on</strong>administrators and faculty, and to publishers are:• Placing required textbooks <strong>on</strong> reserve at campus libraries, department venues, electr<strong>on</strong>icstorage, or via CD-ROMs.• Promoting textbook buy-back programs so students can resell textbooks and have lessexpensive used texts available for purchase. This would entail an educati<strong>on</strong> campaign orrequirement for faculty to make timely textbook adopti<strong>on</strong> decisi<strong>on</strong>s.• Prohibiting faculty or academic departments from pecuniary benefits from textbookselecti<strong>on</strong>.• Requiring that textbooks and opti<strong>on</strong>al supplementary materials be sold separately, ra<strong>the</strong>rthan “bundled” into a package at increased cost to students.• Facilitating student book swaps <strong>on</strong> campuses and between instituti<strong>on</strong>s.• Discouraging adopti<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> new editi<strong>on</strong>s with few substantive changes from old editi<strong>on</strong>s.• Eliminating <strong>the</strong> sales tax <strong>on</strong> textbooks.• Publicizing informati<strong>on</strong> about textbooks in a timely manner to enable students tocomparis<strong>on</strong> shop for required materials.• Creating campus textbook advisory committees, comprised <strong>of</strong> students, faculty, andadministrators, to oversee policies relating to adopti<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> textbooks.<strong>Textbook</strong> rental programs and alternative cost-saving measures can help reduce <strong>the</strong>financial burden <strong>on</strong> students and families from escalating textbook costs. For such efforts to besuccessful, however, <strong>the</strong>y will need <strong>the</strong> support <strong>of</strong> instituti<strong>on</strong>al administrators, students, faculty,bookstore operators, and publishers. State assistance in procuring funds for start-up costs wouldbe vital to <strong>the</strong> success <strong>of</strong> textbook rental programs.-50-
APPENDICES-51-