Report 2007-116 Recommendation 17 Responses

Report 2007-116: Affordability of College Textbooks: Textbook Prices Have Risen Significantly in the Last Four Years, but Some Strategies May Help to Control These Costs for Students (Release Date: August 2008)

Recommendation #17 To: University, California State

To ensure that faculty are aware of factors affecting textbook costs, UC, CSU, and the community colleges should issue guidance on the textbook adoption process. In developing this guidance, they should direct campuses to advise campus bookstores to evaluate the feasibility of implementing cost-saving strategies, such as low-price guarantees and guaranteed buyback on certain titles, to the extent they have not already done so.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2009

Ten campuses have low price guarantees in place, advertised prominently on the bookstore webpage; one campus is planning to implement low price guarantees. Nine campuses have buyback programs for certain texts, also advertised prominently on the bookstore webpage. Four campuses are planning to implement buyback programs. Additionally campuses partner with the university library to provide reference titles for students to use. Some have piloted an “old edition” program with faculty involvement, giving students up to a 70% savings from the new price. Given the opportunity presented by this request, CSU reaffirmed with campuses that notice has been provided to faculty about the need for early textbook choice adoption and the importance of considering price when ordering textbooks. A few of the campus faculty governing bodies have passed policy statements on this subject. (See 2009-041, p. 50)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

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All Recommendations in 2007-116

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.