Sponsors (4)
The bill aims to lower student costs and expand access by promoting open, accessible course materials and better transparency, but does so at the cost of new federal spending, added administrative and compliance burdens, ongoing maintenance costs for institutions and creators, and uncertain adoption outcomes.
Students nationwide pay less for college course materials because the bill funds and encourages adoption of free or openly licensed textbooks and requires clearer price/transparency practices.
Colleges, departments, and faculty get greater access to adaptable, high-quality teaching materials, professional development, and cost-saving options that can lower institutional instructional costs and expand student access.
Students with disabilities benefit because funded projects and program rules push for accessible formats and update plans, increasing inclusive usability of course materials.
Faculty, institutions, and publishers face added administrative and compliance burdens (grant applications, reporting, quality and accessibility reviews, OER designations, publisher summaries), increasing workload and institutional overhead.
Taxpayers bear increased federal costs because the bill authorizes grant funding ('such sums as are necessary') and requires agency resources for program oversight and reporting.
Developing, updating, and maintaining open textbooks and related infrastructure imposes ongoing costs on institutions and creators that may persist after grant funding ends.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes DOE grants to expand open textbooks at colleges, requires course-schedule disclosure of OER status and publisher data-use summaries, and mandates a GAO report on textbook costs.
Official title: Expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students and improve textbook price information.
Introduced February 26, 2025 by Richard Joseph Durbin · Last progress February 26, 2025
Creates a federal competitive grant program at the Department of Education to support creation, adaptation, dissemination, and sustained adoption of open textbooks (open educational resources) for higher education courses, and strengthens campus disclosure rules so students can see whether required materials are OER, prices, and publisher data-use practices. It also directs GAO to report on textbook costs, implementation of the new disclosure rules, publisher compliance, and impacts of OER within three years. The bill sets grant priorities (high-enrollment courses, high student savings, broad adoption), requires faculty consultation and accessibility for students with disabilities, updates federal course-schedule disclosure rules to include OER status and publisher data-use summaries for digital materials, and issues a non-binding statement encouraging faculty to consider OER while protecting academic freedom.