2008 Woodie Awards
Higher Ed Act forces information disclosure
By: Meredith Mayberry
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: News
How much do you really know about your textbooks?
The U.S. House of Representatives wants to make sure you know everything.
The House, while continuing to negotiate the Higher Education Act of 1965 with the Senate, recently approved a bill concerning the disclosure of textbook information, such as prices, ISBN numbers and other information prior to registration.
"This is a key first step in trying to buy greater transparency and dropping the cost for service in terms of textbooks," said Sage Eastman, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland.
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers is not so supportive of the language in the bill.
"On many campuses, registration takes place well before adjunct professors are hired and textbooks have been chosen," according to AACRAO's official Web site, aacrao.org.
CMU Bookstore Director Barry Waters had similar complaints. Waters, a member of a national organization, is trying to get the bill changed.
"We are just now asking faculty for book information for the fall (semester)," Waters said. "Would it be fathomable for the book information to be in a bulletin outside my door right now?"
Waters said the timing issues concerning the bill make it nearly impossible.
"The legislators are just uneducated on the process," he said.
The prices of the books change depending on the time of year, Waters said, noting another problem he has with the bill.
Publishers increase the price of textbook inventory on Nov. 1 and June 1 every year, Waters said. If the price of each textbook was published in the bulletin earlier than those dates, the bookstore would be forced to sell at cheaper prices and left to cover the difference.
Professors may have a smaller selection of textbooks to choose from if they are forced to make decisions earlier in the year, the director said.
"We could be cheating students because they may not be getting the best education material available," Waters said.
Waters said there is positive language in the bill, but the cons outweigh the pros.
"This isn't about hiding anything from anyone," he said. "It just isn't fathomable."
news@cm-life.com
The U.S. House of Representatives wants to make sure you know everything.
The House, while continuing to negotiate the Higher Education Act of 1965 with the Senate, recently approved a bill concerning the disclosure of textbook information, such as prices, ISBN numbers and other information prior to registration.
"This is a key first step in trying to buy greater transparency and dropping the cost for service in terms of textbooks," said Sage Eastman, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland.
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers is not so supportive of the language in the bill.
"On many campuses, registration takes place well before adjunct professors are hired and textbooks have been chosen," according to AACRAO's official Web site, aacrao.org.
CMU Bookstore Director Barry Waters had similar complaints. Waters, a member of a national organization, is trying to get the bill changed.
"We are just now asking faculty for book information for the fall (semester)," Waters said. "Would it be fathomable for the book information to be in a bulletin outside my door right now?"
Waters said the timing issues concerning the bill make it nearly impossible.
"The legislators are just uneducated on the process," he said.
The prices of the books change depending on the time of year, Waters said, noting another problem he has with the bill.
Publishers increase the price of textbook inventory on Nov. 1 and June 1 every year, Waters said. If the price of each textbook was published in the bulletin earlier than those dates, the bookstore would be forced to sell at cheaper prices and left to cover the difference.
Professors may have a smaller selection of textbooks to choose from if they are forced to make decisions earlier in the year, the director said.
"We could be cheating students because they may not be getting the best education material available," Waters said.
Waters said there is positive language in the bill, but the cons outweigh the pros.
"This isn't about hiding anything from anyone," he said. "It just isn't fathomable."
news@cm-life.com
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