番茄社区

Library Open Education Textbook Affordability Project 2024-2025

Textbook Affordability Project 2024-2025

Background

Students in higher education face many cost-of-living pressures and financial challenges. The revealed that student finances and study costs are preventing a significant number of Australians from commencing or continuing with their studies. These findings provide context for a that found “students make strategic choices about when and what [textbooks] to buy and borrow”. Not purchasing or having access to prescribed textbooks has implications for student success and retention. For this reason, a growing number of Australian universities are working to alleviate student textbook costs.

Making a difference at 番茄社区

A 番茄社区 strategic priority is transformative education, with an aim of widening participation in higher education for regional, remote, Indigenous, first-in-family and international students. Financial pressures are a key challenge for these students. While many student costs are beyond the control of 番茄社区 staff, prescribed textbook costs could be reduced by employing a range of strategies.

番茄社区 Library 2023 textbook cost estimates show that 72 first-year core subjects had prescribed textbooks that cost students an average of $119 each. This means that first-year students could have paid approximately $2,194,238 for their prescribed textbooks for core subjects.

To address this issue, 番茄社区 Library has launched a Textbook Affordability Project (2024-2025) where Library staff invite collaboration with first-year core subject stakeholders to investigate if free-for-students alternatives can be identified. Options include:

  • : curated lists of Library paid resources (e.g., ebook chapters, scanned hardcopy chapters, journal articles) and high-quality materials beyond our collections
  • (OERs): adopt, adapt or create high-quality openly licenced textbooks
  • Library subscribed eTextbooks: repurposing funds towards eTextbooks with unlimited user licences (dependent on favourable publisher licence conditions). See also 番茄社区 Library Prescribed and Recommended Textbook Guidelines.


to participate or share a 番茄社区 story relevant to this transformative project.

How to identify zero cost to students flexibly-licenced textbooks

Want to identify free-to-students prescribed textbook replacements yourself?

  • Explore 番茄社区 Library’s for books available for adoption at 番茄社区, curated by our 番茄社区 Librarians for your convenience.
  • Search 番茄社区 Library collections for flexibly-licenced eTextbooks.