Sponsor
Joseph Neguse
Representative · D-CO
Representative · D-CO
The bill aims to lower student costs and broaden access to high‑quality, accessible course materials through federal support, reporting, and disclosure rules, but does so by shifting short‑term workload and administrative costs onto colleges, faculty, publishers, and taxpayers and may produce uneven, privacy, or quality gaps.
Students will pay less for course materials as grant-funded open textbooks and OER adoption reduce or eliminate textbook purchases.
Low-income students will face lower financial barriers to college, improving affordability and potentially supporting retention.
Students with disabilities will get better access because projects and materials must include accessibility reviews and Section 508‑conforming digital formats.
Colleges, instructors, and staff will face substantial short‑term transition costs and increased workload to create, adapt, review, update, host, and ensure accessibility for OER.
The bill authorizes new federal spending (open‑textbook grants, GAO study, reporting) that would increase taxpayer costs if funded.
Smaller publishers and commercial textbook providers may lose revenue and face new compliance costs (disclosures, summaries), which could reduce market competition or raise prices for non‑OER products.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal grant program to expand open textbooks, tightens OER and course‑material disclosure rules, and orders a GAO report on textbook costs and implementation.
Official title: To expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students and improve textbook price information.
Introduced March 5, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress March 5, 2025
Creates a federal competitive grant program to expand use of open textbooks (open educational resources) at institutions of higher education, strengthens federal disclosure rules about required course materials and digital student‑data practices, and directs a GAO study on textbook costs and implementation within three years. Grants will fund development, review, faculty training, distribution, accessibility, and adoption efforts; institutions must disclose retail prices, ISBNs, OER status, and for digital materials a publisher student‑data summary on course schedules.