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UAA Textbook Affordability

A Library-based initiative aimed at substantially reducing the cost of course materials and improving educational equity at UAA.

Overview

The cost of textbooks and course materials plays a major role in the cost of a college education, and the high cost of these materials directly undermines student success, access, and affordability. While low-cost alternatives to many textbooks exist, adopting affordable course materials can be challenging for faculty. Worse, students may feel powerless to advocate for affordable textbooks if they believe they have no influence in the adoption of course materials.

One way to reduce the out-of-pocket cost for students is to adopt free or low-cost textbooks and course materials. Adopting free-to-access materials, also known as Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course materials, has been demonstrated to improve student success. When students have access to their materials from the first day of class, grades improve and withdrawal rates decrease, especially for those students traditionally underrepresented in higher education (Colvard et al., 2018). Students also take more courses, allowing them to move toward graduation faster (Hilton et al., 2015).

Since late 2015, UAA Textbook Affordability (a grassroots initiative under the leadership of D'Arcy Hutchings, previously in collaboration with Veronica Howard and Heather Nice) has been working to increase the use of open educational resources and ZTC materials at UAA and beyond. The links below will direct you to current and past UAA Textbook Affordability programs.

Learn More or Get Involved

Faculty and Staff can:

Students can:

Past Programs and Services

Legacy programs developed and run by UAA Textbook Affordability include:

Contact Me

Profile Photo
D'Arcy Hutchings
Contact:
Instructional Design & Open Education Librarian,
Associate Professor
dlhutchings@alaska.edu
907.786.1982