In the News

THE skyrocketing price of textbooks is one reason more college students are finding higher education increasingly unaffordable. “Open” texts — free or low-cost online alternatives to the printed renditions — are a promising potential solution. Students seem to love ’em.

But there need to be more open textbooks, and they should be as good, or better, than the materials they replace. Only then will more professors embrace them and start ordering them for their classes.

Quality costs money. Bills in Congress authored by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, and others would authorize federal grants to create, adapt, update and expand access to inexpensive digital course materials.

Such legislation deserves approval. Administered properly, the grants would improve access to higher education. The sad reality is that books, which should be a gateway to learning, instead are a barrier for many students now.

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