Should Textbooks Be Free In College Education

Should textbook be free in college education? According to College Board students spend an average of $1200 on textbooks per year (College Board). It is concerning that learning higher education is being undermined by rising costs of textbook. As more and more working adults want to go back to college to develop skills or specialize in the area of their interest in order to improve the quality of life, while there are others like high school students who are planning to start college right after their high school. For many of them their enthusiasm dies down when they find out that the books required for their classes are not only expensive but there are no other alternatives. Since the book companies are commercial entities

On the contrary, in the case of traditional textbooks, updated information is made available only when the next edition is published which usually takes two years or more. This is also the time when course instructors recommend the latest editions, as all previous editions are rendered obsolete. This effectively prevents students from acquiring used textbooks for free or discounted prices. This seemingly unintended consequence is a deliberate strategy implemented by textbook companies to advance their interest in generating continuous flow of revenue. The real unintended consequence is the likelihood of students from poor family to drop out. Despite receiving a tution waiver to attend college, some students might find the prices of their textbook to prohibitive to continue attaining the education. Most of the students who fall under this category are the first in the family to ever step their foot in a college. Dropping out because of exorbitant textbooks would almost certainly guarantee that the student to re-enter the vicious cycle of family with no college

The qualities of the materials in open textbooks are the same as that of textbooks. These are peer reviewed by leading authors and publishers from premier institutes who are avid supporter of open textbooks. There is a school of thought that believes that traditional textbooks provide better results in students’ academic performance. However, according to a study there was astonishingly no difference in the performances between the students selecting open textbooks and the ones with traditional textbooks (Chulkov). Open textbooks also known as Open educational resources (OER) have huge potential to both reduce costs and improve student success, according to Dr. David Wiley, founder of Lumen Learning and a longtime open education advocate. Furthermore, he quotes a research that show inverse relationship between cost of textbooks and student performance (Lumen). With open textbooks, which is accepted by many higher education institutes a huge hurdle for students can be alleviated by eliminating the cost of textbooks, while simultaneously improving learning experiences and student