Dive Brief:
- Students are just weeks away from hemorrhaging money on course materials, giving admins a chance to consider institutional solutions as the cost of some textbooks rises to $400.
- While there are free and low-cost textbook options for popular introductory courses, few private companies see profit motive in taking textbooks digital for high-level courses that so few students actually take.
- Rather than a text-by-text conversion that covers a portion of course materials here and there, publishers seem to prefer partnering with institutions to convert an entire degree program to one that uses open educational resources and other digital texts.
Dive Insight:
Tidewater Community College in Virginia has been offering a Z-Degree program in business administration since the 2013-14 academic year. The program bills itself as “the nation’s first textbook-free degree.” The Hewlett Foundation has awarded the Virginia Community College System $200,000 to expand the program to other community colleges in the state. OpenStax College and Flat World are two publishers that convert textbooks from their expensive hard-copy format to digital. As institutions look for ways to help students save money, focusing on reducing the cost of course materials provides one option.