Spring 2021
Committee:
LAC/EXEC
WHEREAS, textbook affordability continues to be an impediment on students mainly low income;
textbooks are one of the major costs of college with the cost of textbooks comprising 40% of tuition
at a two-year community college and 13% at a four-year public university, and between 2006 and 2016 college textbook prices increased by 88% [1];
WHEREAS, a student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)’s survey conducted from students through the state in 2020 found that 70% of students had skipped buying books due to cost, 94% of students who had foregone purchasing a textbook were concerned that doing so would hurt their grade in a course, 35% indicated they did not have sufficient resources to afford books and supplies [1];
WHEREAS, in 2012, SB 1053 [2] established the California Digital Open Source Library under the administration of CSU in collaboration with California Community Colleges for the purpose of housing open source materials to provided internet web-based resources for students, faculty, and staff to easily find, adopt, utilize, or modify course materials online for little or no cost; and
WHEREAS, in 2015 the bill AB 798 [3} (The Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program) was created to provide incentives and reward campus, staff, and faculty efforts to accelerate the adoption of open educational resources in the CSU system and the California Community College system; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Student Senate for California Community Colleges advocate to allocate more funds for bill AB-798 to accelerate the adoption of open educational resources in the California Community College system, including the development of zero-cost textbooks; and
RESOLVED, that the Student Senate for California Community Colleges create a task force to educate student governments and/or campus administrations on how to advocate for open educational resources textbook at their campus using bill AB-798.
Citation 1: U.S PIRG Education Fund & The Student PIRGs. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from
https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/fixing-broken-textbook-market
Citation 2. Legislative Information. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from https://bit.ly/3fFyeXB
Citation 3: California Legislative Information. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from https://bit.ly/2SKsm6C
textbooks are one of the major costs of college with the cost of textbooks comprising 40% of tuition
at a two-year community college and 13% at a four-year public university, and between 2006 and 2016 college textbook prices increased by 88% [1];
WHEREAS, a student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)’s survey conducted from students through the state in 2020 found that 70% of students had skipped buying books due to cost, 94% of students who had foregone purchasing a textbook were concerned that doing so would hurt their grade in a course, 35% indicated they did not have sufficient resources to afford books and supplies [1];
WHEREAS, in 2012, SB 1053 [2] established the California Digital Open Source Library under the administration of CSU in collaboration with California Community Colleges for the purpose of housing open source materials to provided internet web-based resources for students, faculty, and staff to easily find, adopt, utilize, or modify course materials online for little or no cost; and
WHEREAS, in 2015 the bill AB 798 [3} (The Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program) was created to provide incentives and reward campus, staff, and faculty efforts to accelerate the adoption of open educational resources in the CSU system and the California Community College system; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Student Senate for California Community Colleges advocate to allocate more funds for bill AB-798 to accelerate the adoption of open educational resources in the California Community College system, including the development of zero-cost textbooks; and
RESOLVED, that the Student Senate for California Community Colleges create a task force to educate student governments and/or campus administrations on how to advocate for open educational resources textbook at their campus using bill AB-798.
Citation 1: U.S PIRG Education Fund & The Student PIRGs. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from
https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/fixing-broken-textbook-market
Citation 2. Legislative Information. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from https://bit.ly/3fFyeXB
Citation 3: California Legislative Information. Retrieved December 22, 2020, from https://bit.ly/2SKsm6C