Books cost broke Bucs boatloads of Benjamins while booksellers make bank, but should we believe joining the Open Textbook Network will bring in change?
Last year, ETSU joined the Open Textbook Network – an association of American universities aiming to make textbooks more attainable for students.
According to the University of Minnesota, which began the initiative, members of the network – now including ETSU – support the Open Textbook Library, in which certain “open textbooks” are either available for students to download online or available for students to print at a low price.
According to an article on ETSU’s website titled, “ETSU joins Open Textbook Network to help students with educational costs,” ETSU’s first membership year is funded from the library fee paid by student tuition.
The Open Textbook Library is available online with a simple Google search for “Open Textbook Library.” It’s the first result, and anyone can avail to have the many free books accessible there. ETSU’s decision to join this organization is a big step toward the long-term goal of helping students nationwide reconcile their financial needs to their textbook needs.
“Depending on their financial needs, students might choose to wait to take a course – or not take it at all – because of the price of supplemental materials like textbooks, access codes (for online content) and more,” former SGA president Keyana Miller said in the article. “Many students aren’t aware of third-party vendors that sell and rent textbooks, and first-year students often don’t know second- or third-year peers they could get textbooks from.”
Nationwide, undergraduates in public four-year schools were estimated to spend $1,240 on textbooks and supplies, according to the College Board. Not only does joining the Open Textbook Network give the students the potential to save money, but these free resources provide students with more resources to enlarge the circumference of their knowledge.
On the other hand, some cons of this decision may be that ETSU students do not benefit immediately. After all, some of our money is going to an organization whose resources are available to the public even now. However, we must remember to think long-term. ETSU is pioneering a movement championing free textbooks, a cause for which we may see future generations be very thankful.
There is also the possibility that professors may opt not to use these textbooks, but rather elect books covering the same material, continuing to strip our wallets “Buc-naked.” Joining the Open Textbook Network is a step toward using these resources in the first place, and their usage will likely establish precedent and popularize it for other professors.
We can finally rest assured that university administration is well aware of this student need.
“[O]ver the years, we have attempted different strategies to try to mitigate the impact of [the costs of textbooks],” ETSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Bert C. Bach was quoted as saying in the university article. “I believe this opportunity to affiliate with the Open Textbook Network and use the background and experience they have is a genuine chance for us both to address the costs of textbooks for our students, and also to create opportunities for our faculty and others to develop learning materials and textbooks that will be part of this network.”
