The student advocacy group MASSPIRG is further developing their campaign to lower the cost of textbooks for students.
Student PIRGs released the fourth version of a 2021 national survey, “Fixing the Broken Textbook Market,” Feb. 10. The research, which was conducted by various student public interest resource groups and surveyed more than 4,000 students across 107 colleges and universities in September and October 2025, revealed “70% of students reported that they had skipped purchasing a textbook or access code at some point because of cost — the highest percentage observed across the four editions of this report.” The group emphasized the need for both more accessible textbook costs and the further implementation of open educational resources.
“Rising reliance on access codes and automatic billing has reduced choice, limited competition and left students paying high costs — even as free materials become more common,” Dan Xie, the Student PIRGs political director, wrote in the report.
According to the survey, some universities utilized an automatic billing program for textbooks — a detail many students were unaware of. Around 48% of students at schools with these programs “did not know about the program or want to be in it,” particularly freshmen. Even in universities without automatic billing, students struggled with working around the high costs, even planning their schedules and course selections around which textbooks would potentially cost the most.
“Universities may think they’re providing convenience by streamlining, centralizing and automating billing but they’re often exacerbating students’ financial hardships,” said Leigh-Anne Cole, MASSPIRG Students Organizing Director, in the group’s state release. “While students may get course materials faster or easier, there’s no guarantee students get what they pay for when everyone pays a flat rate — and more content than ever is supposed to be free.”
“The [textbook] landscape is changing, and that makes it harder for students to pick their classes, because they’re spending a lot of money,” said Abigail Raymond, a UMass Boston student trustee. She was not involved in writing the report, but she has testified for the Open Educational Resources trust fund bill to encourage the wider usage of OER in colleges and universities.
The report argues that these problems reflect a much larger issue with the textbook market. While more educators are utilizing open educational resources and offering free materials to students, others require students to complete assignments that are only accessible with paid codes. The students then have little choice but to pay, or else they cannot complete their work.
“The evidence in this report is clear: free and open materials are reducing costs where they are adopted, but unchecked digital paywalls and automatic billing are perpetuating the affordability crisis students have faced for decades,” the document says. “The future of the textbook marketplace will be defined by which model policymakers and institutions choose to support. With deliberate action, higher education can move toward a system where course materials support student learning without undermining student well-being.”
Raymond said that UMass Boston has done good work so far on making textbooks more affordable. Healey Library offers access to a wide range of OER, including photos, textbooks, class resources and even games and photos. These resources are compiled on the UMass Boston website.
“There’s been a lot of work to ensure that there is a program where professors can adopt and adapt [online] resources for their students,” Raymond said. “So there is a system within the university to really ease that process. And I know that they’re just going to continue that work because it’s a collaborative effort. But I do think it’s always good to look toward progress and how we can improve.”
