Good morning and thank you for joining us today for this very important hearing on the costs of college textbooks. This is a continuation of the series of hearings that we have held over the last year or so to examine rapidly rising college costs and seek solutions to help increase college affordability for students.

I want to start by welcoming our witnesses and thanking them for joining us here today.

In 1965, Congress enacted the Higher Education Act to ensure that every American student striving for a college education, regardless of financial status, had the opportunity to pursue his or her educational goals. Because of this commitment, millions of eligible students have attended, and are continuing to attend, the college or university of their choice. However, thousands of highly qualified students are being priced out of a higher education because colleges, universities and states are increasing their tuition and fees beyond the reach of students.

We are attempting to address this issue by empowering parents and students and shining a spotlight on excessive tuition hikes; however, it is important that we don't ignore the staggering costs of textbooks in the college cost equation and the effect that they have on a student's overall cost of higher education.

In January of this year, the California Student Public Interest Research Group or CALPIRG released the report, "RIPOFF 101- How the Current Practices of the Textbook Industry Drive Up The Cost Of College Textbooks." The report presented an analysis of a survey of the most widely assigned textbooks in the fall of 2003 at 10 public colleges and universities in California and Oregon. In brief, the report indicates that textbooks are expensive and are getting more so each year; textbook publishers add "bells and whistles" that drive up the costs of textbooks; new editions are flooding the market (but contain minimal if any substantive changes); and online textbooks hold promise in reducing the costs of textbooks.

Also, in a recent article, according to the National Association of College Stores, the wholesale price of college textbooks has increased 32.8 percent since 1998. The Association found that, of the 75.9 cents of every dollar that students pay for new textbooks that go to the publishers, 11.5 cents is sent to the authors of the textbooks. This leaves 64.4 cents out of every dollar to be retained by the publishers.

During today's hearing, we hope to find out what expenses make up a publisher's costs and whether college bookstores and universities are justified in keeping almost 25 percent of the costs of a particular textbook.

There is also a growing concern about the discrepancy in textbook costs overseas. Identical textbooks are reported to have dramatically lower prices when sold outside the United States as compared to the price charged to American students. It is important to learn what effect these practices have on the overall cost of college.

Since coming to Congress more than 10 years ago, I have been concerned about the rising cost of higher education. I believe that the costs of textbooks are too high, and are one of many factors jeopardizing our efforts to keep college affordable. I am determined to learn about what steps can be taken to ease the burden on students and families.

Last year, I introduced H.R. 3311, the Affordability in Higher Education Act, which is intended to hold institutions more accountable for the ever-rising cost of a higher education and make substantive efforts to stem those costs. Within that bill and within the recently introduced H.R. 4283, the College Access and Opportunity Act, we create a college affordability demonstration program. The demonstration program would allow schools to seek regulatory and statutory waivers from the Secretary of Education in order to demonstrate how they will reduce costs to students, including the costs associated with textbooks.

In addition, our colleague, Representative David Wu introduced H.R. 3567 to require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation into the high price of college textbooks.

While we are waiting on GAO to complete its report and on Congress to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, a number of schools are holding their own conversation about the issues surrounding textbook pricing and many are looking at what can be done to address concerns over textbooks adding to the ever-increasing cost of a postsecondary education.

One innovative approach to dealing with the cost of textbooks and other educational materials is that taken by the University of Phoenix.  Over the past three years, the University has been converting its curriculum and content to digital format.  The goal of this project, called "RESOURCE" has been to provide a broader and richer variety of curriculum materials at lower cost to students.  Instead of paying for individual textbooks, students pay a flat subscription fee that provides electronic access to all course materials for current and past courses.  Materials available go far beyond simply digitizing traditional textbooks.  They include sophisticated simulations, case studies, packaged e-learning content, current full-text periodical articles, virtual organizations and an innovative new "e-Book Collection" providing searchable access to texts utilized across the University’s curriculum.

We are also aware of efforts by some universities to enable students to "check out" or "rent" college textbooks rather than purchase the books. I am looking forward to hearing more about this today from one of our witnesses.

Both of these initiatives are examples of how innovation can help reduce the burden of high textbook costs on students and families. It is my hope that more universities throughout the country will adopt these approaches so that millions of low and middle-income students are not priced out of a college education because of the soaring cost of textbooks.

As Congress continues the process of renewing and reauthorizing the Higher Education Act and builds on efforts to bridge the educational divide for America’s low and middle-income students, it is important that we continue our dialogue and continue to work towards issues that increase college affordability.

 Thank you again for joining us here to discuss this important topic. I look forward to hearing your testimony so that my colleagues and I can learn more about this very serious issue.