Making Textbooks More Affordable

University System of Ohio Makes College Textbooks More Affordable

The University System of Ohio held an April 2008 Textbook Affordability Symposium, bringing together students, faculty, bookstore managers, publishers, and key civic and community leaders to share best practices and develop strategies for helping reduce student out-of-pocket costs for college textbooks and related materials.

Discounted Textbooks for Students

An outcome of the symposium was an Aug. 27, 2008, announcement from Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut that the University System of Ohio has entered into an agreement with the nation’s six largest commercial publishers to offer Ohio college students significant discounts on electronic textbook purchases.

Effective immediately, students purchasing eTextbooks through the Ohio Textbook Portal at http://textbooks.uso.edu will receive a University System of Ohio discount on the purchase of electronic textbooks. Students will also be able to purchase discounted digital material, which supplements textbooks, such as articles, cases, stand-alone textbook chapters, and other copyrighted materials.

Faculty Innovator Individual and Team Awards

The Chancellor also announced the introduction of two new programs that will reward University System of Ohio faculty who find innovative ways to reduce the price of textbooks for students across the System.

The new University System of Ohio Textbook Affordability Grants program makes $250,000 available to faculty teams across the System who develop, build, and package collections of course materials offered free to students. The University System of Ohio will fund as many as five projects up to $50,000 per course offering.

It is expected that the discounts on electronic books and the monetary rewards to faculty members will lead to a new business model, which provides consumer-driven savings for students.