Affordable College Textbook Act
- Bill Number
- S. 740
- Origin Chamber
- Senate
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 1
- Policy Area
- Education
- Status
- Introduced
- Latest Action
- 2025-02-26: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S1398-1399)
- Last Updated
- 2026-02-06T19:37:21Z
Official Summary
Affordable College Textbook Act
This bill provides statutory authority for an open textbook grant program for institutions of higher education (IHEs). (A similar program, known as the Open Textbooks Pilot program, first received federal funding in FY2018.)
Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Education to make grants to IHEs or states on behalf of IHEs to support projects that expand the use of open textbooks. An open textbook is an educational resource that either resides in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual license that permits its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others.
Within three years of the bill's enactment, the Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the cost of textbooks at IHEs. This report must examine, among other topics, the factors that have contributed to the change in the cost of textbooks.
Sponsor
Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Cosponsors (3)
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME], Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN], Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Recent Actions
- 2025-02-26: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S1398-1399)
- 2025-02-26: Introduced in Senate
Bill Versions
- Affordable College Textbook Act — issued 2025-02-26 — PDF (16 pages)