Contributed by Amanda Hurford and Erin Milanese 

Misconceptions about OER at Private Institutions

Despite the rising costs and growing student debt in all sectors of higher education, there’s a misconception that the cost of textbooks is not a problem at private schools. One faculty member we surveyed in 2017 illustrated this misunderstanding with this comment, “Spending $100 or $200 for textbooks in a class that costs thousands of dollars to take makes sense. Why would you skimp on the textbook?”

We find further evidence of this attitude when looking at data from administrators. An Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Presidents (2020) found, “Public institution presidents are more likely than those at private institutions to believe textbooks cost too much, and tend to be more supportive of different approaches to save students money” (p. 36).

A Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers, also by Inside Higher Ed (2020), yielded similar findings, with 63% of public university provosts agreeing or strongly agreeing that OER are of high enough quality to be used in general education courses, compared to 42% of chief academic officers at private colleges.

Mythbusting: The Reality of OER at Private Institutions

We are seeing a much different reality: that textbook affordability is an issue everywhere, including private colleges. The PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning program serves the twenty four private institutions that make up the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI). Our initiative supports affordable learning and student success by promoting open textbooks. We do this by providing faculty workshops and incentivizing opportunities to write reviews of open textbooks and redesign courses with zero cost materials. 

In addition to misconceptions we commonly hear about OER availability (OER are for high enrollment courses.) and quality (Aren’t free resources of a lower quality?), here are two big myths about OER at private institutions we’ve encountered in our work. 

Myth 1: Private school students are affluent. They don’t care about the cost of books.

This is not universally true, and even well-off students don’t want to pay more than necessary for a textbook. According to U.S. News & World Report (2020), at an average cost of over $35,000, the sticker price to attend a private college is about 72% more than a state school. However, the reality is that many students don’t pay this: they rely on financial aid, tuition discounts, and loans. The Institute for College Access & Success (2019) reports that 68% percent of graduates from private, non-profit colleges have loans totaling an average of $31,450.

One interesting and surprising statistic is the percentage of Pell Grant recipients at private institutions. Data from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (2017) shows the majority of middle tier and selective 4 year, not-for-profit private colleges have at least 33% Pell eligible students enrolled. That’s at least one out of three students coming from a family who are not “affluent.” 

Analysis from a Library Journal (2019) survey of librarians showed those at private schools perceived their students to be as cost conscious as those at public universities, and that textbook affordability was a “major concern.” Similarly, a Library Journal (2019) survey of faculty found that most faculty at private institutions do consider textbook costs to be a “major concern.”

Lastly, several states in the US are going to see a 15% decrease in the number of college-bound students during this decade due to declining birth rates, says economist Nathan Grawe (2018). For private institutions, this means that we could soon be seeing an uptick in lower income students.

Myth 2: Current student textbook survey data and OER research doesn’t apply, because it comes from public universities.

While a lot of data comes from public institutions, some recent studies suggest that public and private students are similarly affected by textbook prices. A study from Murphy and Rose (2018) at American University found that “high textbook costs cause unwanted behavior changes in students, including not purchasing the book, restorting to illegal online downloads, and poor study habits” (Significant Findings, para. 1). Similarly, Schleicher, Barnes, and Joslin’s (2020) article on open education initiatives at Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, and Macalester highlights benefits to OER adoption in the private liberal arts college setting, including the shifting demographics of the student body, and the “pressure to justify their high tuition rates and eliminate obstacles to student success” (p. 2).

PALNI’s Findings

Our experience with the PALSave program provides additional evidence that students at private colleges care about and are negatively impacted by the textbook costs. Some initial data comes from a Fall 2019 textbook survey at three PALNI schools: Goshen College, Manchester University, and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. 503 students completed the survey for a response rate of around 24%. 

In the following tables, we compare our findings to those of the Florida Virtual Campus (2018) survey, which is distributed to students at Florida public colleges and universities every other year.

Table 1: How much did you spend on textbooks “this” semester?

	PALNIFall 2019	FL Student SurveySpring 2018
$0-100	20.87%	12.9%
$101-200	27.44%	20.2%
$201-300	26.84%	22.9%
$301-400	12.92%	18.3%
$401-500	6.96%	11.7%
$501-600	3.18%	7.1%
$601 or more	1.79%	6.7%

When comparing spending for “this semester” it appears PALNI students are spending less, on average, than those at Florida public universities.

Table 2: What measures have you taken to reduce textbook costs?

	PALNIFall 2019	FL Student SurveySpring 2018
I do not attempt to reduce textbook costs	2.78%	4.4%
Buy from a source other than the campus bookstore	71.97%	66.0%
Buy used copies	54.87%	53.0%
Rent a print textbook	49.90%	47.8%
Share a textbook	48.31%	27.1%
Use an outdated version of the textbook	34.79%	n/a
Rent a digital textbook	26.64%	41.4%
Use a reserve copy from the campus library	26.24%	11.7%
Worked additional hours to pay for books	25.65%	n/a

It could be that at small private schools, students are spending less each semester by relying on community connections. The data backs up this theory, finding that almost 50% of PALNI students have shared a textbook compared with 27% of the FL students surveyed. But overall, the data suggests that students at private schools take similar measures to save money on textbooks as students from public universities.

Table 3: Has the cost of textbooks and course materials cause you to:

	PALNIFall 2019	FL Student SurveySpring 2018
Not purchase the required text	60.44%	64.25%
Take fewer courses	24.85%	42.76%
Drop a course	18.29%	22.9%
Withdraw from a course	16.70%	18.1%
Earn a poor grade because I could not afford the textbook	35.6%	35.6%
Fail a course because I could not afford the textbook	15.5%	17.2%

Perhaps the most shocking finding was that PALNI students report dropping classes, withdrawing, failing, and earning poor grades because of the cost of textbooks at rates very similar to those at the public schools in Florida.

Conclusion

Here is a quote from a PALNI professor who understands the reality: “Overall, the cost of textbooks and course materials is still a small fraction of the cost of attending college. But the way that students pay for this material — out of pocket — … makes the cost a bigger deal.” No matter what school a student attends or how they afford it, the cost of course material is pretty much a drop in the bucket. However, that additional cost is one that is often detrimental to student success. With the wealth of open options out there, OER should at least be considered by faculty at all types of institutions.

References

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (2017). The 20% Solution: Selective Colleges Can Afford to Admit More Pell Grant Recipients. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/pell20/

Grawe, N. D. (2018). Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Jaschik, S., & Lederman, D. (Eds.) (2020). 2020 Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Presidents. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://www.insidehighered.com/booklet/2020-survey-college-and-university-presidents

Florida Virtual Campus (2018, March 8). 2018 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://dlss.flvc.org/documents/210036/1314923/2018+Student+Textbook+and+Course+Materials+Survey+Report+–+FINAL+VERSION+–+20190308.pdf/07478d85-89c2-3742-209a-9cc5df8cd7ea

Jaschik, S., & Lederman, D. (Eds.) (2020). 2020 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://www.insidehighered.com/booklet/2020-survey-college-and-university-chief-academic-officers

Library Journal (2019). Academic Faculty: Textbook & Course Materials Affordability Survey. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://storeapi.libraryjournal.com/magento2-ib/customform/form.php?name=academic-faculty-textbook-course-materials-affordability-survey-report

Library Journal (2019). Textbook Affordability Survey Report. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://storeapi.libraryjournal.com/magento2-ib/customform/form.php?name=2019-textbook-affordability-survey-report

Murphy, L., & Rose, D. (2018). Are Private Universities Exempt from Student Concerns About Textbook Costs? A Survey of Students at American University. Open Praxis, 10(3), 289-303. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.10.3.866

Powell F., & Kerr, E. (2020, September 14). See the Average College Tuition in 2020-2021. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/paying-for-college-infographic?rec-type=sailthru

Schleicher, C. A., Barnes, C. A. & Joslin, R. A. (2020). OER Initiatives at Liberal Arts Colleges: Building Support at Three Small, Private Institutions. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 8(1), p.eP2301. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2301

The Institute for College Access & Success (2019, April). Quick facts about Student Debt. Retrieved October 21, 2020 from https://ticas.org/files/pub_files/qf_about_student_debt.pdf

Amanda Hurford is the Scholarly Communications Director for the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI). She holds a Master of Library Science with a specialization in Library Technology Management from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). In Amanda’s role at PALNI, she develops and supports scholarly communications initiatives of the 24 PALNI-supported institutions, and raises awareness of topics such as open access publishing and open educational resources. Under Amanda’s direction, PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning, was established in 2018.

Erin Milanese is the PALNI Affordable Learning Project Coordinator, and Head of Learning Technologies at Goshen College. She holds a Masters of Library Science from IUPUI. In her work for the PALNI PALSave program, Erin gathers and analyzes program data and coordinates the Faculty Redesign Grant program. Follow her on Twitter (@erinmilmil) to chat about OER or to see more cat pics!

This post is by Amanda Hurford and Erin Milanese and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, except where otherwise indicated. Please reference OER and Beyond and use this URL when attributing this work; for more information on licensing, see our Open Access Policy.