Over the holidays, the Department of Education officially ended plans to change eligibility rules for Inclusive Access programs—through which college students can pay for their course materials as part of their tuition or as an additional fee—that could threaten their viability. The DOE had been considering moving the program from an opt-out option to opt-in, a change IA supporters said would threaten the viability of the program.
In the summer, faced with vigorous opposition from most parts of the higher education community, the DOE tabled the idea. And in a December 26 post, the DOE wrote that during the negotiations to find ways to help make college more affordable, it was “persuaded” that before making changes to the cash management rule, the agency needed to gather additional data to “evaluate how policies related to the costs of books and supplies as part of tuition and fees best serve students and their use of financial aid.”
The DOE added that since it had also received some input questioning the current program’s structure, “we believe further research to assess the benefits or drawbacks of this way of billing for textbooks is needed before proceeding with rulemaking.” But at the moment, any changes to the current structure seems highly unlikely. “We do not believe exploring further regulatory changes in this part of the regulations is the best use of limited Department resources at this time,” the DOE wrote.
The post reiterated that institutions that include the costs of books and supplies as part of tuition and fees must ensure they have a clear policy under which the student may opt out of the program. “If the Department continues to find that institutions are not complying with the current requirements,” the post continued, “we may propose additional protective or restrictive measures to ensure that students have access to books or supplies at below competitive market rates.”
The decision by the DOE was applauded by Maria Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publisher, which helped to lead the fight against changes to the current regulations. Pallante said it was “outstanding news” that the programs which have helped make college materials more affordable will remain in place.
