Transparency Bills Seek to Reveal the True Costs of College: Andrew Handel in Stateline
The legislation is not intended to infringe on professors’ choice of textbooks, but rather is an effort to bring more transparency to the process.
Andrew Handel, ALEC Education and Workforce Development Task Force Director, was featured in a Stateline news article on the costs of books and supplies impacting students when attending schools and universities. The ALEC model Textbook Cost Transparency Act requires public college and universities to disclose any fee amounts, student data terms of use, and opt-out procedures within their course schedules.
“We would enroll in our classes online, we would never know what textbooks were required until the first day of class,” said Handel, who has two degrees from St. Louis University. “It’s all about transparency.”
ALEC’s model bill calls for the titles and retail prices of books and other materials to be available about a month before the start of an academic term, which Handel said would give students time to find the best deals.
“If there are a couple of elective English courses, and one requires 10 textbooks and one eight, that might be a couple of hundred dollars’ difference. The legislation is not intended to infringe on professors’ choice of textbooks, but rather is an “effort to bring more transparency to the process.”