Beyond buying a house, financing a college education can be one of the most expensive investments a person ever makes. As college costs skyrocket and student loan debt receives increased media attention, it’s easy to overlook the unadvertised expenses associated with required college textbooks and other learning materials, even when pursuing an online degree.
In fact, the average cost for textbooks is estimated at $1,200 per year for a full-time student — a 73 percent increase in just the past decade.
Below are six considerations to help online students access, budget for and effectively work within the changing and potentially expensive landscape of college textbooks.
[Check out four ways to get free college textbooks.]
1. Don’t assume: Just because your classes are online doesn’t mean the program won’t require traditional texts. Dan Darnley, an online Master of Music Education candidate at SUNY–Buffalo State, says he was surprised when he learned that some of his courses required purchasing physical textbooks or workbooks.
“I assumed all the required resources would be embedded in the LMS,” Darnley says.
Many online programs still require purchasing either printed textbooks or e-texts. Southern New Hampshire University has an online bookstore where students or prospective students can browse by course, purchase or sell back books.
The checkout cart adds shipping costs just like Amazon. This is a good resource for all online students to use to estimate a textbook budget for each semester.
2. Choose textbook format wisely: Despite research that says students prefer traditional print textbooks when cost is not a factor, Darnley says, “As an online student, e-texts are significantly easier to work with than printed books. I would prefer a printed textbook if I was physically attending lectures, but as an onliner, I prefer digital.” He says he uses cloud-based storage to have access anywhere to e-texts, notes, assignments, articles, citations, videos and other data.
[Learn how to make the textbook choice for an online course.]
3. Inquire about textbook costs prior to enrolling: Some institutions will factor a textbook allowance into tuition, while some forward-thinking schools have built textbook expenses directly into a student fee.
Ginger Bidell, an instructional designer at Western Governors University, wrote in an email, “To ensure that WGU students have access to all of their learning materials, we charge students a $145 Resource Fee for each sixth-month term. This fee covers the use of the online library, e-textbooks, and many other learning resources like web-based tutorials, simulations, practice quizzes and assignments. Through the online library, students have access to tutorials like Lynda.com and Skillsoft as well as journals, newspapers, magazines, e-books, and videos.”
4. Leverage open educational resources: In response to spiraling textbook costs, entities such as Lumen Learning, OpenStax, MERLOT II and Saylor Academy offer high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks and other learning materials at little or no cost to students. These open educational resources are quickly gaining favor among students and faculty.
If online courses use open educational resources, students will generally save significantly. It’s also worth browsing through these curated collections to see if whether you can access some of your required or recommended course readings for free.
[Discover five ways to help manage the high costs of college textbooks.]
5. Turn to the university or public library for help: As an online student, it’s worth investigating whether you can place library books on reserve or access library subscription databases — such as Elsevier or JSTOR — online.
Beyond the university library, local public libraries also offer patrons a variety of databases that are accessible online. A library card may also allow you to access your $300 business textbook for free.
6. Be a shrewd consumer: Inquire with the university bookstore about renting instead of purchasing textbooks. Students can also purchase textbooks at any bookstore — not just the university bookstore.
Online students might save money on shipping costs by shopping the local campus bookstore, even if they attend a different online university. Also, emailing the professor prior to the semester to ask if the edition of the textbook really matters is worthwhile. In some cases, the difference between the latest edition and an older edition is hundreds of dollars.
Last, when selling back printed texts after the semester, shop around. Students don’t need to sell books back at the store in which they were purchased.
The takeaway: College textbook costs can be substantial. While some online programs are actively working to manage textbook costs, others have not yet fully leveraged the learning management system, online library databases and open education resources. Online learners need to be informed, plan to manage textbook costs and seek and secure the best textbook options available to enable their own success.
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6 Ways Online Students Can Save on Textbooks, Learning Materials originally appeared on usnews.com
