That digital textbook? Your college has billed you for it

Colleges are increasingly assigning digital books and study tools instead of paper textbooks. But one electronic option in particular has come under criticism from some student advocates.

That model is called inclusive access, in which colleges have contracts with education publishers to provide required digital texts and study tools at a discount.

Then, colleges automatically bill students when they enroll, as part of their tuition. Colleges began adopting these digital programs over the past decade in response to expensive increases in textbook prices.

Now, courses at hundreds of colleges offer inclusive access programs.

The benefit, publishers say, is that all students are able to use required textbooks and tools when they begin taking a class, at a more affordable cost. Research by both student advocates and campus bookstores has shown that students sometimes skip buying required materials — often because of cost, but also because they think they won’t actually need the materials.

Federal rules allow colleges to automatically bill students for course materials if the colleges meet certain requirements.

But skeptical student advocates say the benefits of some programs can be murky.

Discounts can be hard to quantify because the original price of the materials is unclear, according to a report released last week by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, an advocacy group, which examined dozens of contracts between publishers and more than 30 twoand four-year public colleges.

Also, some contracts allow publishers to reduce the discounts if too few students participate. In some cases, quotas to maintain lower pricing are as high as 90% of students taking a course.

Further, the report found, it’s not always obvious how students can opt out of the billing if they want to search elsewhere.