Durbin Proposes Grant Program for College Textbooks

Illinois Radio Network

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) believes he has a solution to the problem of the high price of college textbooks.

College students spend $800 to $1,200 a year for textbooks, preventing some people from affording college (SOURCE: U.S. PIRG).

Durbin has introduced legislation to set up a grant program under which universities and professors would create textbooks that would be available on-line, for free.

"I've been in a battle for years now with the textbook publishers who've been ripping off kids and their families, I think, with outrageous charges for textbooks," Durbin says. "Now, we've got to find ways to deliver the information that young people need to learn in the most cost-effective way. I think this is it."

Initially, grant applicants would get special consideration if their subject matter is of interest to the greatest number of students. Ultimately, any curriculum or textbook created through a federal grant would have to be freely available on-line.

The measure would not apply to titles already in print. Durbin says if this measure is enacted, a lot of students will have access soon to a broad library of these free on-line books.

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