Researchers are currently unable to tell us whether OER are working as well for … students of color, low-income students and other student populations…. Other studies intentionally control for such factors through propensity score matching (PSM) or multilevel modeling (MLM). This is because OER and textbook affordability studies typically control for issues of difference, or else fail to disaggregate their final data altogether. 2018 Clinton & Khan 2019 Colvard, Watson, & Park 2018 Delgado, Delgado, & Hilton 2019). Consequently, OER are estimated to have saved students over $1 billion dollars worldwide between 2013–2018 ( Allen 2018 Nyamweya 2018), with the potential to save students an additional $1.4 billion each year in the United States alone ( Senack 2015).ĭespite OER’s ability to reduce current price barriers to higher education ( Hodgkinson-Williams & Arinto 2017), very little research to date has explored OER’s specific impact among those who are presumed to benefit most from that potential: historically underserved student populations (see Arbor 2011 Jenkins et al. That figure is projected to triple by year 2021 ( Cengage 2016), as faculty awareness nears 50% ( Allen 2019) and OER adoption in introductory courses begins to rival that of traditional textbooks ( Straumsheim 2016 see also Allen & Seaman 2016). After surveying over 2,700 faculty, Seaman and Seaman ( 2017) found OER use at two- and four-year institutions had nearly doubled between 20. In the United States, this sum equates to 72% of the total tuition and fees at an average two-year institution, and 26% of the total tuition and fees at an average public four-year institution ( USGAO 2005 see also USGAO 2013).įortunately, as textbook prices continue to increase, so has the use of open education resources (OER)-openly licensed materials that can be accessed, edited, and shared without cost or restriction ( Hewlett Foundation 2017). As a result, the average undergraduate student today spends $1,200–$1,300 per year on textbooks and supplies. Through the 1980s, prices increased three times the rate of inflation ( Popken 2015), and since the 2000s, they surged four times inflation rates ( Weisbaum 2016). Since the late 1970s, textbook prices have increased more than 1,000% ( DiGangi 2015). The rising cost of college textbooks has been well documented (e.g., Senack & Donoghue 2016). However, those barriers were even more significant among historically underserved college students thus, confirming textbook affordability as a redistributive justice issue, and positing OER as a potential avenue for realizing a more socially just college experience. Drawing upon more than 700 undergraduate surveys, our univariate, bivariate and multivariate results revealed textbook costs to be a substantial barrier for the vast majority of students. For each of these reasons, this study explored the impact of OER and textbook pricing among racial/ethnic minority students, low-income students, and first-generation college students at a four-year Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. This reality has left a significant gap of understanding in the current body of literature, resulting in calls for more empirically-based examinations of OER through a social justice lens. Yet very little research to date has explored OER’s specific impact on those who are presumed to benefit most from this potential: historically underserved students. In light of rising textbook prices, open education resources (OER) have been shown to decrease non-tuition costs, while simultaneously increasing academic access, student performance, and time-to-graduation rates.
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