The Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, students, faculty and
administrators packed a State House hearing room on Oct. 3 as the Joint
Committee on Higher Education heard testimtony about the high cost of
college text books. Those testifying were calling in lawmakers to
support the name of bill to lower text book prices HB 500 , filed by
Representative Steven Walsh of Lynn, which would make Massachusetts the
leading state in protecting students against the unfair practices
within the textbooks publishing industry which drive up book prices.
MASSPIRG, a state wide public interest group with student chapters at
colleges across Massachusetts, released a report earlier this year
highlighting the many problems within the publishing industry. The
report, Exposing the Textbooks Industry, found that students are
spending about $900 on books each year, and that the prices of
textbooks have been rising at about four times the rate of inflation
over the last decade.
