Textbook Costs:
Sources: 1Collegeboard.org. 2Student PIRG Study, 3Florida Student Textbook Survey
More information about alternative textbooks (open educational resources) and open education in general are available from the resources listed below. University of Kentucky faculty members who have questions about alternative textbooks or would like to create alternative textbooks are welcome to the Research and Scholarly Communication Department at Joyner Library.
Students and University retention is suffering due to the rise of textbooks. Many students will opt to not buy a textbook, or forgo buying one altogether. This can effect a students grades as well as their overall satisfaction with their college educational experience and retained knowledge.
Here & Now on NPR recently had a report about the exorbitant prices of textbooks and the access codes for the accompanying online exercises:
What kind of prices are we talking about for both books and access codes?
“Both books and access codes we’re talking about $500 per semester. For just access codes alone it’s probably about $400 of that $500. Per access code, it can range from $90 to $100 just for the code.”
The complete report is available as a podcast.
Delaying the Purchase of Textbooks
The Impact of High Textbook Costs
To promote the use of OER on their campuses, more college and university libraries are starting "Alternate Textbook Projects". These projects encourage faculty to replace their commercial textbooks with alternate resources such as OER and licensed library content (which is openly available to all the members of that institution). This section of the Guide will link you to several of these programs.
Borrowed from Temple University's Discovering Open Educational Resources Libguide.