70+ STUDENT LEADERS CALL ON CONGRESS TO RENEW OPEN TEXTBOOK PILOT - US PIRG

Dear Chairs and Ranking Members, We the undersigned student representatives of America’s colleges and universities write to you today on the urgent need to address the skyrocketing price of textbooks, and to urge you to renew and strengthen the Open Textbooks Pilot in the FY19 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. Textbooks and other materials are one of the largest hidden costs students experience in their pursuit of a degree. Students regularly pay hundreds of dollars each semester for books they can only resell for pennies on the dollar, and increased use of expiring access codes hides essential homework assignments behind an online paywall. Sixty-five percent of students have skipped buying a textbook at some point because of cost, and each year, $3 billion of federal student aid goes to pay for textbooks, according to the Student PIRGs. https://uspirg.org/news/usp/70-student-leaders-call-congress-renew-open-textbook-pilot