Now Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, wants to make college parties way cooler. That or lower the debt mountain most students find themselves atop after earning/buying that diploma. The Harvard man (do Ivy Leaguers party?) is pushing a bill that would help create free textbooks. The legislation would stick it to Big Math by establishing a grant program to fund so-called “open textbooks” — online books available for profs, students, whoever to use and distribute however they see fit. 
 
 Noting that Minnesota students graduate with the fifth most debt in the nation, Franken says he’s surprised how many hours students work while in school. 
 
 “When I worked in school, I worked less than 10 hours a week,” he recalls. “I’ll go to a roundtable and say, ‘How many here work 20 hours a week?’ Most of the hands go up. ‘How many work 30?’ A lot of hands. ‘How many work 40 hours a week?’ There will be some hands. That’s very difficult to go to school and go full time.” 
 
 Co-sponsored by Franken with bill buddy Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, the Affordable College Textbook Act works like this: Higher ed institutions apply for government cash to fund the creation of a shareable book. That otherwise marked-up educational content could be built on or customized by other schools and tweed jacketed academics to suit their courses. 
 
 It’s unclear how much the book share move would cost Uncle Sam. However, three years ago the University of Illinois spun $150,000 into an open-source book sampled by at least 60,000 students. 
 
 According to a U.S. PIRG survey, 65 percent of college students have passed on buying a textbook because it was too expensive. On some campuses, books make up more than 40 percent of the cost to attend, says Ethan Senack, a higher education advocate with the consumer group. 
 
 “It’s clear that for students and families that are already struggling to afford a college education, it’s not just an expensive textbook anymore,” he says. “It’s a serious barrier.” ||||| Here are the steps for Status of Legislation: 
 
 There is one summary for S.1704. Bill summaries are authored by CRS. 
 
 Shown Here: 
 
 Introduced in Senate (11/14/2013) 
 
 Affordable College Textbook Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to support pilot programs that expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students. 
 
 Requires the grants to be used for: 
 
 professional development for IHE faculty and staff, including the search for and review of open textbooks; 
 
 the creation or adaptation of open educational resources, especially open textbooks; 
 
 the development or improvement of tools and informational resources that support the use of open textbooks; 
 
 research evaluating the efficacy of using open textbooks to achieve savings for students; and 
 
 partnerships with other entities to carry out the preceding activities. 
 
 Requires the full and complete digital content of the educational resources created or adopted using such grant funds to be made available free of charge to the public: (1) on an easily accessible and interoperable website; and (2) in a machine readable, digital format that anyone can directly download, edit, and redistribute. 
 
 Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to grant applicants that demonstrate the greatest potential to: 
 
 achieve the highest level of savings for students; 
 
 expand the use of open textbooks at other IHEs; and 
 
 produce open textbooks that are of the highest quality, that can be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members, that correspond to the highest enrollment courses, and that are created or adopted in partnership with entities that will assist in their marketing and distribution. 
 
 Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include any educational material developed to accompany a college textbook as supplemental material that is subject to college textbook information disclosure requirements. 
 
 Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage the consideration of open textbooks by faculty within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom that establish the right and responsibility of faculty members to select the most appropriate course materials for their classes. ||||| Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act to the Senate last Thursday. 
 
 The bill would provide grants for universities to create textbooks that can be freely accessed and modified online. The hope of the act’s proponents is that these open-source textbooks would drive down textbook prices in general. 
 
 “One thing is clear,” Durbin said in a press conference last Thursday. “The traditional publishing market is not providing students the materials they need at a cost they can afford.” 
 
 Durbin cited a pilot project at the University of Illinois which produced an open-source textbook called “Sustainability: a Comprehensive Foundation.” Since its introduction, the free textbook has been used across the University of Illinois system and around the country. 
 
 A corresponding piece of legislation has been introduced in the House. Durbin said he expected opposition from the textbook industry, and encouraged college students to advocate for the proposal. A similar bill was introduced by Durbin in 2013 but never left committee.
– Al Franken knows how ridiculous the cost of college textbooks can be, and he want to do something about it. That's why the Minnesota senator and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act, a bill that would give grants to higher-ed institutions so they can create textbooks accessible for free online—which would, in turn, ostensibly push the costs of textbooks down, the Chicago Maroon reports. "The traditional publishing market is not providing students the materials they need at a cost they can afford," said Durbin, who introduced a similar bill in 2013 that never went anywhere. These "open textbooks" would be available for professors, students, and pretty much anyone who wanted to use and distribute them, City Pages reports. Franken noted the cost of textbooks has risen 82% (three times the inflation rate, per US PIRG) over the past 10 years and that a student coughs up an average $1,200 for books and supplies each year, Northern Public Radio notes. And, per a 2014 US PIRG report, 65% of students say they've opted not to buy a text because it was too much money; nearly half the respondents said textbook cost impacted how many and which classes they registered for. "Students would say, 'I have to pay $150 for this paperback book,' and the professor of the course—who was in the room—said, '$150?!' She didn't [even] know," Franken says, per Northern Public Radio. "Isn't that amazing?" A higher-ed advocate for US PIRG tells City Pages that "for students and families that are already struggling to afford a college education, it's not just an expensive textbook anymore. It's a serious barrier." Durbin expects opposition from at least one group, per the Maroon: textbook manufacturers. (The University of Maryland has already swapped out its books for online resources.)