Like millions of college students across the United States, I have spent hundreds of dollars outside of my tuition on textbooks as resources for my education. But when I am putting my debit card information into eCampus to buy a textbook that could potentially cost me hundreds of dollars, something doesn’t exactly feel right. Not only are students already paying thousands of dollars per semester to attend our universities, but we are also spending hundreds of additional dollars solely on the materials needed for the class. This past semester, I had one textbook that was almost $250. Eventually, I ended up renting an online copy of the book for $50, even though I find it hard to read when I don’t have the book physically in my hand. Last semester, I paid $80 for an access code just to do calculus homework.Â
Ridiculous.
Systems like these fail to consider the diverse economic backgrounds of a campus’s population. They target those who are already at an economic disadvantage when entering a college campus, forcing them to pay hundreds of dollars in addition to the thousands they are already paying to study at the school. Students may be attending college on a full-ride scholarship, or they could be paying for college themselves, paycheck to paycheck, and facing the future of being tied to thousands of dollars in student loans. There are students who are sacrificing meals or other necessities in order to purchase or rent a textbook that they’ll only be using for three months.Â
As a place where the main mission is learning, colleges should have it so learning is accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford it. We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our well-being for the sake of a degree.
The solution to these problems? Open Education Resources. Open Education Resources, or OERs, are customizable, open resource, educational materials. OERs are fueled by the ida of making “high-quality, educational materials available to everyone.” Instead of forcing students to decide between bare necessities and educational resources, they will be able to focus their attention on the development and progress of their education.
Just as it should be.