Students at some community colleges will have the opportunity to save money on textbooks by replacing them with open-source materials, thanks to a new initiative.
Achieving the Dream launched the “open educational resources degree initiative,” which could save students as much as $1,300 a year, The Washington Post reported.
The initiative will take place over three years and “will lay the groundwork for nationwide adoption of OER degrees.”
The 38 colleges in 13 states (New York, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota, California, Florida, Washington, Connecticut, Arizona, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina) “were selected through a competitive grant process based on their ability and capacity to implement OER degree programs, offer the full complement of degree courses quickly, or quickly scale the number of sections offered,” Achieving the Dream explained.
The initiative is expected to benefit at least 76,000 students.
About 50 percent of the colleges use open-source materials, and 20 percent have degree programs that focus on the materials. They include Tidewater Community College and Northern Virginia Community College, both of which are on the list. Achieve the Dream is providing $9.8 million in grants to make more resources available, which are created with open licenses so students can download them for free.
Karen Stout, president and chief executive of Achieving the Dream, spoke of the initiative’s goals. “This effort is designed to accomplish two things that are crucial to completion rates for first-generation, low-income and students of color: Remove financial roadblocks created by textbook costs…[and] offer a new vehicle for using technology and course materials in dynamic and engaging ways,” she said.
Textbook prices have risen 82 percent in the past decade, according to the Government Accountability Office. Up to a third of community college costs can get eaten up by textbook prices. For fall 2015, students spent, on average, $323 on textbooks.
The cost could be more than financial for those who are unable to get textbooks in time.
“The cost of textbooks is the biggest rip-off in higher education,” Chancellor Glen Dubois of the Virginia Community College System said. “Too many of our students show up, they enroll and start the first week without a textbook, and that puts them behind the eight ball on the college success measure.”
These open educational resources are a direct competitor to textbooks. David Anderson, executive director of higher education at the Association of American Publishers, said, however, that the market has more room for digital materials.
