To:Provosts and Academic Affairs Vice Presidents

Date:April 10, 2012

From:Gerard L. Hanley, Academic Technology Services

CSU Office of the Chancellor

Subject:Reminder about Higher Education Opportunity Act and Textbook Affordability

In August 2008, the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA) was signed into federal law. There are a number of HEOA provisions that impact the CSU.Complying with the HEOA requirements is a condition for the CSU receiving student financial aid from the Federal government.

The purpose of this memo is to remind campuses about the TEXTBOOK INFORMATION requirements as the time to order course materials for fall 2011 approaches and to provide recommendations for support your campus’ successful implementation of the requirements. The Chancellor’s Office organized information and created an FAQ for your campus community to learn more about the HEOA

The section in the HEOA on textbooks defines requirements that will require campuses to implement practices that provide students access to textbook and course materials information associated with the individual CSU classes scheduled for each semester/quarter. The purpose of these requirements is “to ensure that students have access to affordable course materials by decreasing costs to students and enhancing transparency and disclosure with respect to the selection, purchase, sale, and use of course materials.” (See PURPOSE AND INTENT of Section 133 of HEAO for more details).

KEY TEXTBOOK INFORMATION REQUIREMENT in HEOA

“To the maximum extent practicable, each institution of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance shall—

Disclose, on the institution’s internet course schedule and in a manner of the institution’s choosing, the ISBN (International Standard Book Number)and retail price information of required and recommended college textbooks and supplemental materials for each course listed in the institution’s course schedule used for preregistration and registration purposes” (see exceptions)

Below are a few recommended campus actions support your campus’ successful implementation of the textbook provisions of the HEOA requirements.

Communicate the ongoing HEOA requirementsto your facultyso they provide their selection of course materials and textbooks in a timely way and the campus can provide the textbook ISBN and price in the course schedule prior to pre-registration. You communication can include a number of messages:
Textbooks and Financial Aid: What’s the Connection? Faculty may not know that their campus’ ability to provide Federal financial aid to their students is dependent upon a wide range of requirements, including the availability of textbook information within the course schedule. Non-compliance could put at risk $1+ billion in Federal student assistance for our CSU students. Raising awareness of this requirement can help faculty understand why they are being asked to submit their book requests so early and can help motivate more timely communication of the required textbook and supplemental material information.
Accessibility of Instructional Materials:The timely communication of course materials to the bookstore will provide your centers for students with disabilities sufficient time to produce alternative formatted materials.
Choosing Affordable Course Materials: The textbook information requirements in the HEOA are driven by the goal of making higher education more affordable for students. Many CSU campuses have initiated their own Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) Campaign which provides faculty and students an easier way to find no-cost and lower cost course materials. The AL$ website is a comprehensive resource and will be highlighting the CSU Rent Digital program which provides faculty and students the option of choosing many digital textbooks for 60% off the next textbook price. Blending the HEOA requirements into a broader Affordable Learning Solutions campaign can provide a converging purpose for faculty communicating their textbook information in a timely manner. Contact me for more information about this program.
Affordability and Student Success: Students are not buying all the course materials they need to succeed because they can’t afford them. Another motivating message can be, “Help provide students more affordable options by getting course materials requests to the bookstoreon time.”
Consider incentives for faculty and departments communicating their course materials to the bookstore in a timely manner.
Review procedures for dealing with cases when textbook information in not available by pre-registration (e.g. a faculty member hasn’t been assigned to the course in time). A subsection in the HEOA states:

“ (B) if the institution determines that the disclosure of the information described in this subsection is not practicable for a college textbook or supplemental material, then the institution shall so indicate by placing the designation “To Be Determined” in lieu of the information required under this subsection;”

It will be important that campuses make a best effort in providing the textbook information in a timely manner and strategies to continuously improve the percentage of courses with textbook information should be implemented.

We hope the information and resources provided by this memo support your campus in its planning and implementation of services to fulfill requirements forFederal student financial aid and make CSU’s quality education more affordable. If you have questions, please contact me .

cc: Ephraim Smith

Benjamin Quillian

Bruce Briggs

Christine Helwick

Chief Information Officers

James Postma

Dean Kulju

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