OpenStax, a nonprofit initiative started by Rice University in 2012 to provide free textbooks and digital resources, is growing and helping to impact the cost of a college education.
Rice University, which operates the program with support from several foundations, recently announced that more than 2.2 million students and nearly half of U.S. colleges are using the service this year to save about $177 million – helping OpenStax surpass its goal early of saving students $500 million in textbook costs by 2020.
The institutions using the service range from high schools to community colleges such as San Jacinto College to larger universities such as Arizona State University and North Carolina State University.
A recent study by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) found that the average textbook costs from around the nation are decreasing for the first time in 50 years. Some say the change is due partly to competition from alternatives such as OpenStax.
“This is exactly what we hoped to see,” Daniel Williamson, managing director of OpenStax, told Rice University News & Media. “We’re thrilled about this shift because when open materials drive the price of all textbooks lower, it means our books haven’t just impacted the students who use them – they’re indirectly saving money for every student in the market. We hope to see that ‘average price’ figure shrink even further as open materials reach more students at more institutions in more locations around the world.”
The study, published in May, also concluded that “the average undergraduate student spent $555.60 on required course materials for the academic year” in 2017-18.
Outside of the U.S., 1,150 schools in more than 100 countries are utilizing OpenStax. OpenStax partnered this year with organizations in the United Kingdom and Poland to “promote the use of affordable, open texts worldwide,” the nonprofit said.
