The Alt-Textbook Initiative and partnering with Texts.com or Amazon.com are just a few options senate members are discussing in an attempt to help students save on educational materials.
In exchange for lowering the costs of course materials for their students, Ohio University professors stand to gain some money themselves.
The Ohio Task Force on Affordability and Efficiency is requiring public universities in the state to lower textbook costs by 15 percent, Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, said at the Nov. 2 faculty senate meeting that focused on textbook affordability.
In response to the task force, the OU Textbook Cost Reduction Initiative is looking at ways to save students money as early as next fall when they purchase educational materials, which is anything the professor requires for the course. The Alt-Textbook Initiative, an OU Libraries pilot program, encourages university professors to change their syllabi and course materials to be more cost efficient. The library has set aside $5,000 as an incentive for professors who make changes.
Professors who teach classes of 100 or more students can earn $1,000, and professors whose classes have fewer than 100 students are offered $500.
Kelly Broughton, assistant dean for research and education services, and Janet Hulm, assistant dean for Collections and Digital Initiatives, run the initiative, which was created this past summer by a project team of interested subject librarians, Broughton said.
“I think we might get more applicants than we have the initial funding for,” Broughton said. “But textbook cost savings is something that affects the entire university, so there is the potential to get more funds.”
So far, 12 OU professors have applied for the incentives, but the application process does not end until Jan. 15 and award recipients will be announced in March. The savings will be implemented for the 2016 Fall Semester, Broughton said.
There might be a second round for professors whose projects are not approved this year, Broughton said.
Student Senate President Gabby Bacha said in an email senate is working on a project that will save students money by partnering with the website Texts.com, which is a free website that brings together the prices of both online retailers and individual student sellers to secure users the best deal for the quality of the textbook.
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Student Senate is working to make an exclusive account for OU that would be accessible with a student's OU email address, Bacha said in an email.
However, senate members are concerned that a physical exchange of the textbook is required by the website when a transaction is done between two students. Senate is working on setting up safe locations on campus for exchanges so students can be comfortable with the process, Bacha said.
The Alt-Textbook Initiative and the partnership with Texts.com are two programs with the goal to save OU students money but The Ohio University Textbook Cost Reduction Initiative is looking at many other options, such as partnering with Amazon, Craig Bantz, associate vice president chief information officer for OU’s Office of Information Technology, said.
@KyraCobbie
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