Explore the fine print…

SPARC created the Textbook Billing Contract Library as a resource for advocates and institutions to understand the legal agreements behind automatic textbook billing. Known by brand names like “Inclusive Access” and “First Day,” these programs charge the cost of digital course materials directly to each student’s tuition and fee bill, often without confirming their consent. While vendors say this model provides access, many students think it limits their options. Colleges and universities have a responsibility to prioritize the needs of students—not vendors—and that starts with reading the fine print.

What is the Textbook Billing Contract Library?

SPARC’s Textbook Billing Contract Library can be used to compare, contrast and download the full text of legal agreements with major vendors including Cengage, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Follett, Barnes & Noble, and VitalSource. The table identifies key information about each contract, including the type of agreement, pricing structures, minimum usage rates, revenue sharing provisions, and other terms. Contracts can also be filtered and sorted by state, vendor, and institution. Access Library >>

How did SPARC obtain automatic textbook billing contracts?

The Textbook Billing Contract Library contains public copies of legal agreements between higher education institutions and vendors. All of the documents were obtained through open records requests pursuant to U.S. state or federal freedom of information laws, or through other legally permissible means. Many of the contracts were originally published by U.S. PIRG through its automatic billing investigation. Read Disclaimers >> 

Where can I learn more about automatic textbook billing programs?

For more information about automatic textbook billing programs in general, visit InclusiveAccess.org where you can find background information, advocacy resources, and downloads. For analysis and recommendations related to automatic textbook billing contracts, read U.S. PIRG’s report Automatic Textbook Billing: An offer students can’t refuse?  View Background >>

Methodology

The Textbook Billing Contract Library contains public copies of legal agreements between higher education institutions and textbook billing vendors. All of the documents were obtained through open records requests pursuant to U.S. state or federal freedom of information laws, or through other legally permissible means. Contracts marked with a source of “PIRG FOIA” were originally published by U.S. PIRG through its 2020 automatic textbook billing investigation and later analyzed by SPARC. Contracts marked with a source of “SPARC FOIA” were obtained through public records requests submitted by SPARC.

SPARC collected the majority of the contracts currently in the library through two waves of public records requests sent in 2021 and 2023. Requests were sent to public institutions that had been identified as having an automatic textbook billing program, either by word of mouth or internet searches. We made some effort to include institutions from a variety of states and institution types, although our ability to make requests is limited by state laws, the ease of submitting a request, and an institution’s compliance with a request. In spring 2021, we sent requests to 75 institutions out of which 42 provided documents and 4 had no responsive records. In 2023, we sent requests to 149 institutions (including some who previously received requests from SPARC or PIRG), out of which 75 provided documents and 7 had no responsive records. The remaining institutions either did not respond to the request or charged what we deemed as an excessive fee in order to complete the request.

Before adding contracts to the library, SPARC carefully reviews each document received for its relevance to textbook billing. Contracts that do not directly relate to course materials, digital content, or bookstore services were generally excluded from the library. Each document is processed using optical character recognition to make the text searchable, then analyzed by a member of staff who enters key details about each contract into the library. A second member of staff reviews this information before it is published. A link to download the full text of each document is available in the library, which users may use to verify the details of the contract.

SPARC continues to periodically submit records requests to obtain additional documents. Our typical records request is narrowly scoped to legal agreements between the institution and a list of vendors known to be involved in textbook billing. The list of vendors currently Akademos, Ambassador Education Solutions, Barnes and Noble, Cengage, Copia, eCampus, Follett, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, RedShelf, Slingshot, TopHat, Verba, and VitalSource.

Acknowledgments

SPARC would like to acknowledge the community members who collaborated to build the foundations of this resource as part of a 2020 working group on automatic billing. This includes Marilyn Billings, Cheryl A Cuillier, Kristina DeVoe, Carrie Gits, Regina Gong, Hillary Miller, Richard Sebastian, Kaitlyn Vitez, and Megan Wacha.

Many of the original contracts contained in the Contracts Library were obtained and published by U.S. PIRG, whose report Automatic Textbook Billing: An offer students can’t refuse? provides extensive information and analysis about these agreements and what they mean for students.

Additional work was made possible by generous support from the Michelson 20MM Foundation.   

Disclaimers

All of the information provided in the Textbook Billing Contracts Library was obtained by SPARC through legally permissible means. Most documents were obtained by SPARC through open records requests pursuant to state and federal freedom of information laws, which require public institutions to disclose information about their operations to the public upon request. Other documents are reproductions of public records that have been obtained and published online by others, which SPARC has verified it is legally permissible to republish.

While SPARC takes every precaution to ensure that the information included in the Contracts Library is being provided in full compliance with all laws, regulations, and contractual obligations, SPARC relies on the institutions that have provided these documents to be aware of and comply with their legal obligations when providing that information to SPARC or otherwise publishing it online, including redacting any and all protected information. If you believe that any information included on this site may have been provided to SPARC improperly, you may contact [email protected]. Please specify the document in question and include an explanation for why you believe the publication of this information is inappropriate, so that we may investigate the matter. 

The Textbook Billing Contracts Library is a living resource. Information will be added and updated on an ongoing basis. If you choose to download a copy of the summary spreadsheet, please keep that in mind. The most current copy is available at sparcopen.org.