In response to a declining economic climate and growing costs of higher education, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is working to create a systemwide policy to make textbooks more affordable for students.

The policy also intends to meet federal policy requiring colleges to address rising textbook costs and alleviate some of the burden on students.

While the policy gives institutions until July 2010 to finalize a policy, UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the system is looking to get a head start on addressing this issue.

“President Reilly is bringing these recommendations forward because we know it’s an important issue for our students,” Giroux said. “We don’t want to wait until the federal deadline to take action. We want to do something now while we keep working on that federal deadline.”

Giroux added while the finalized policy is being constructed, the UW System will address these issues by providing general guidelines for campuses to follow.

The guidelines include encouraging universities to create textbook rental programs and urging teachers to use textbooks from year to year, according to Board of Regents Vice President Chuck Pruitt.

The system also recommended getting book lists out early so students can search for the best possible deals and providing retail prices of course materials along with the course schedule when students register for classes.

“The most important part is for us to be proactive,” Pruitt said. “We want to make sure we’ve looked at every means we can to hold down the costs. … We see ourselves to be a national leader among university systems to find new and creative ways to help students bring down these costs.”

Pruitt added the UW System has also advanced in its efforts to reverse the rising cost of textbooks.

Compared to the 2.23 percent of colleges and universities that have already established textbook rental programs of some kind, seven of the 13 four-year UW institutions, or 54 percent, have already established textbook rental programs.

“I know there are a lot of student groups on campus doing a lot of good things in terms of textbook swap programs,” Pruitt said. “We want to applaud students for doing that and bringing attention to that so other campuses will look and figure out what they should be doing.”

UW sophomore Kate Hanley said she is glad to see the UW System take charge of this growing problem, especially during these tough economic times.

“I’m broke and need cheap books so I can actively learn in my classrooms,” Hanley said. “Tuition is already increasing, so alleviating the cost of all aspects of education is definitely something important to focus on.”

Hanley also said she saved money on books this semester by participating in the Associated Students of Madison’s textbook swap at the beginning of the year.