A law went into effect this month to help textbooks remain affordable for students. The national average cost for a student to purchase textbooks for courses was about $900 per semester, an increase of four times the rate of inflation.

This law was the first direct federal action to address textbook prices, and the purpose was to help rein in costs at colleges across the country and benefit students as well as professors.

The law contained provisions from the College Textbook Affordability Act and covers three main points. Publishers must provide the professors evaluating a textbook with the price of the textbook. Textbook supply materials that were sold in bundles must be unbundled and sold as individual pieces. This will help reduce costs by letting students pass on resources they do not deem necessary. Colleges must include the retail price of the textbooks in course schedules when students are registering for classes so they are aware of what they are getting into from the beginning.

“After a survey of professors across the country, 77 percent of faculty said prices are not provided when they are selecting their course material. Also, 94 percent of professors said they would prefer the cheaper option of choices given,” said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin.

Due to these changes, students will be able to shop around in advance for the most affordable option. It typically takes about two weeks to receive a textbook order placed online; before, students did not have this time in the semester to wait on the arrival of a textbook.

Steven White, associate professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said over recent years he has noticed students foregoing textbooks because they cannot afford to buy them, causing their grades to suffer. This trend has become pronounced since the economic downturn.

“I appreciate the work that has gone into this law. Professors should have students’ best interest at the forefront of most of their decisions, and making this law will help me as a student manage my costs better,” said Tori Schwarzlose, junior recreation, parks and tourism sciences major.

The next step for textbooks is the open source text, which puts textbooks online for students to view for free and charges $30 to $60 to print. This is a part of the Open College Textbook Act that will be discussed in Congress. This is a flexible option for professors as they can pull from different editions to compile one book customized for each class.