SINEMA, COLLEAGUES URGE ADMINISTRATION TO PROTECT STUDENTS FROM UNEXPECTED CHARGES
May 13, 2024
Senators encouraged the Department of Education to require colleges to obtain consent from students before deducting the cost of textbooks and other course materials.
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema and a group of colleagues urged U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to finalize proposed changes requiring institutions of higher education to obtain consent from students before billing for course materials – giving students more freedom on how to spend their financial aid dollars.
“The cost of college, including the cost of textbooks and course materials, can put a postsecondary education out of reach for many students. Students need more choices – not fewer – in the textbook marketplace so they can make the best decision for their own needs,” wrote Sinema and her colleagues.
Sinema, along with U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act last year – legislation helping Arizona students and their families save money on college textbooks by expanding the use of open educational sources, which are learning, teaching, and research materials legally open for free use of the public through the Department of Education’s Open Textbook Pilot Program.
In the letter to the Department of Education, the senators expressed the importance of expanding access to open textbooks and educational resources and thanked the Department for its support of the Open Textbook Pilot Program, which is projected to save students more than $250 million.
