Association of Big Ten Students 2014 (Minneapolis, MN)

[email protected] @txtbks

Scholarly Publishing &Academic Resources Coalitionwww.sparc.arl.org

Opening Education through Student

ActionNicole Allen

OER Program Director, SPARC

Association of Big Ten Students ConferenceJanuary 18, 2014 Minneapolis, MN



MY STORY









Cheney Breaks Senate Tie on Spending CutsBy ANDREW TAYLORThe Associated Press Wednesday, December 21, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation to cut federal deficits by $39.7 billion on Wednesday by the narrowest of margins, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.

The measure, the product of a year's labors by the White House and the GOP in Congress, imposes the first restraints in nearly a decade in federal benefit programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and student loans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122100221.html





NAME: David Reichert

OFFICE: Member, U.S. Houseof

Representatives Washington 8th

District

PARTY: Republican

VIEWS: Moderate





Congress tries to make education cost even more

As a college student, I am downright livid that Congress is trying to make higher education even

less affordable. As you discussed in "Student Loans: Historic cuts" (Thursday), Congress's paltry

attempt to appear fiscally responsible included the $12.7 billion it robbed from students over the

next five years. The most dumbfounding part to me is that $12.7 billion will decrease the deficit by

only $8.50 per American per year, while the cuts could increase the average student debt load by

$5,800.

The difference is not going to pay off the national debt, but to offset the $106 billion in tax cuts

Congress passed in the same breath as the budget cuts. How dare Congress tell me that I will have

an even harder time paying for college for the sake of fiscal responsibility when the congressional

budget bill actually increases the deficit.

The House will have one more chance to vote down the misnamed Deficit Reduction Act in

February. Representatives need to remember that current students are the ones who will pay off

the debt from this administration's fiscal irresponsibility. Burdening my generation with more

student debt and reducing our access to college will only lower our collective earning (and

taxpaying) power.

Nicole Allen

University of Puget Sound, Tacoma

Letters to the EditorSaturday, December 31, 2005



It's unfair to graduate with a load of debt

Hooray! Finally a college student speaks out about cuts to higher education to fund tax cuts for

those who presumably already have their college education. Kudos to Nicole Allen for speaking up

about this issue (Sunday letters). It's about time the younger generation gets on its hind legs to

fight back.

I went to college in the '60s with government help, as did most of my lower-middle-class friends. As

a result, we moved solidly into the middle class and beyond. What did this country receive in return

for this gift to us? Millions of people who had good jobs bought homes and goods and services. We

paid taxes so that we could all be better off. Guess how much debt we started our lives with as a

result of this government help? None, zero, zip. We started our working lives debt free.

Get going, college students. Demand no less for your generation.

Diane Bowers

Shoreline

Letters to the EditorMonday, January 2, 2006



It's unfair to graduate with a load of debt

Hooray! Finally a college student speaks out about cuts to higher education to fund tax cuts for

those who presumably already have their college education. Kudos to Nicole Allen for speaking up

about this issue (Sunday letters). It's about time the younger generation gets on its hind legs to

fight back.

I went to college in the '60s with government help, as did most of my lower-middle-class friends. As

a result, we moved solidly into the middle class and beyond. What did this country receive in return

for this gift to us? Millions of people who had good jobs bought homes and goods and services. We

paid taxes so that we could all be better off. Guess how much debt we started our lives with as a

result of this government help? None, zero, zip. We started our working lives debt free.

Get going, college students. Demand no less for your generation.

Diane Bowers

Shoreline

Letters to the EditorMonday, January 2, 2006

“Hooray! Finally a college student speaks out about cuts to higher education to fund tax cuts for those who presumably already have their college education. Kudos to Nicole Allen for speaking up about this issue (Sunday letters). It's about time the younger generation gets on its hind legs to fight back.”












Scholarly Publishing &Academic Resources Coalitionwww.sparc.arl.orghttp://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/02/images/20060208-8_d-0292-2-

515h.html

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/02/images/20060208-8_d-0292-2-515h.html

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/02/images/20060208-8_d-0292-2-515h.html











House Cuts Student Loan Interest Rates in Halfmsnbc.com staff and news service reportsupdated 1/17/2007 6:09:49 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- The new Democratic-led U.S. House kept another campaign promise Wednesday and voted to help financially strapped students cover the soaring cost of college.

The House set aside objections from President Bush's administration as well as concerns by lenders and passed a bill to cut in half the interest rate on need-based federal student loans over five years to 3.4 percent. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16668166/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16668166/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16668166/





House Passes Student Aid BillSeptember 18, 2009By Doug Lederman

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved sweeping legislation to overhaul the student loan programs and redirect tens of billions of dollars to student aid and other education programs, brushing aside Republican opposition and handing President Obama a significant legislative victory. The House's approval of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which had been a foregone conclusion for months, shifts the action to the Senate, where the outcome is slightly less predictable.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/18/aid








Scholarly Publishing &Academic Resources Coalitionwww.sparc.arl.orghttp://www.studentpirgs.org

Students deliver 130,000 letters telling Congress “don’t double our rates”

http://www.studentpirgs.org/



At 11th Hour, Congress Approves Freeze of Interest Rate on Some Student LoansJune 29, 2012By Michael Stratford

After months of disagreement over how to pay for a temporary freeze on the interest rate for certain federal student loans, Congress on Friday passed a bill that averts a rate increase but reduces some benefits for borrowers.

The measure keeps the interest rate for federally-subsidized loans to undergraduates at 3.4 percent until July 2013. Lawmakers attached themeasure to their compromise package for highway projects, which received bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. It passed the House by a 373-52 vote, and the Senate approved it 74 to 19.

http://chronicle.com/article/At-11th-Hour-Congress/132721/





Senate Reaches Deal to End Fight Over Student Loan Interest RatesBy JEREMY W. PETERSPublished: July 17, 2013

WASHINGTON — Senators negotiating a bipartisan deal to keep student loan rates low reached a deal on Wednesday night that could end the partisan feud on Capitol Hill that has threatened to permanently double interest rates.

Two Senate aides said that the new proposal, which had been the subject of tense negotiations since the rates doubled on July 1, would include both a cap on federal Stafford and PLUS loans and a relatively low interest rate pegged to Treasury notes. Undergraduates would pay the 10-year Treasury note rate, 2.49 percent on Wednesday, plus 2.05 percent, with a cap of 8.25 percent, to protect them from inflation. Graduate students would pay the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3.6 percent, with a cap of 9.5 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/us/politics/senate-reaches-deal-to-end-fight-over-student-loan-interest-rates.html?_r=

0

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/us/politics/senate-reaches-deal-to-end-fight-over-student-loan-interest-rates.html?_r=0





When students speak, people

listen



Gov. Christine Gregoire signs textbooks bill with WashPIRG students



THE OPPORTUNITY



(1) Textbook costs can be

solved immediately



(2) Technology makes it

possible to share

information freely** There is a cost, but it’s very very tiny



Print On Demand







http://www.slugbooks.com

http://www.slugbooks.com/



Why are textbooks so

expensive, and what can we do

about it?



$1,207Average student budget for

books and supplies for 2013-2014 year

http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-estimated-undergraduate-budgets-2013-14





82%Increase of textbook prices

2002-2012

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-368









$8.8 billionAnnual size of the US

higher education textbook market

http://info.xplana.com/report/pdf/Xplana_Whitepaper_2011.pdf

http://info.xplana.com/report/pdf/Xplana_Whitepaper_2011.pdf



“Broken Economics”



How Students Save

Used Books

Rentals

E-Books

E-Readers

25%

61%

52%

39%

% Student Savings Over New Print Text

http://www.studentpirgs.org/reports/cover-cover-solution




2 in 5Students report they have

shared books with classmates to reduce costs

http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2010_fsts_report_01sep2011.pdf





1 in 3Students report

downloading course material from an

unauthorized website (up from 1 in 5 in 2010)

http://www.bisg.org/news-5-847-press-release-now-available-student-attitudes-toward-content-in-higher-education-volume-3.php





7 in 10Undergraduates skipped buying one or more texts

due to costhttp://www.studentpirgs.org/news/ap/high-prices-prevent-college-students-buying-assigned-textbooks

http://www.studentpirgs.org/news/ap/high-prices-prevent-college-students-buying-assigned-textbooks

http://www.studentpirgs.org/news/ap/high-prices-prevent-college-students-buying-assigned-textbooks



1 in 3Students say at some point they earned a poor grade because they could not

afford to buy the textbookhttp://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf

http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf




1 in 2Students say they have at some point taken fewer

courses due to the cost of textbooks






You can’t learn from a textbook you can’t afford



OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES



Open Educational Resources (OER) are textbooks and other

academic materials that are published online for everyone to use, adapt

and share freely



Open Textbooks• Free, online, accessible to all

students starting day one of the course

• Available in many formats including online, PDF and print ($20-40)

• Openly licensed and adaptable by instructors



Open LicenseAmends the default “All Rights

Reserved” terms of copyright to “Some Rights Reserved,” granting blanket permission in advance to

everyone to use the material



Four “R’s” of Open

ReuseReviseRemix

Redistribute(With attribution to the author)



Open Textbook (Example)

• Free online

• Free PDF

• Free ePub

• Print $49.73

• Instructor can adapt and distribute

http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics





http://www.bkstr.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&categoryId=9602&langId=-1&productId=4000000000002535744&storeId=216405&productStoreId=216405






~100”Professional grade”

open textbooks available for common college

courses



Open Textbook Catalog

In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human Development has created this catalog of open textbooks to be

reviewed by faculty members. Read full press release

Open textbooks are complete textbooks released under a Creative Commons, or similar, license.

Instructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by remixing, editing, and adding their own content. Students can access

free digital versions or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks.

http://open.umn.edu/

In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human Development has created this catalog of open textbooks to be reviewed by faculty members.

Open Textbook Catalog

http://open.umn.edu

http://open.umn.edu/



Open Textbook Development

• Individual Authors• Campus-funded projects• Government-funded projects• Start up publishers (both for

profit and non-profit)



80% / ~$100Students savings per

course when open textbooks used in place of

traditional






Studies show that the use of open textbooks

is correlated with higher grades and

retention rateshttp://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=533http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1523

http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=533

http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=533

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2012.716657

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1523



~$100MStudents savings

worldwide to date from the use of OER instead of

traditional materialshttp://openeducation2013.sched.org/event/90d9e1c479a944181f771f720ef967db

http://openeducation2013.sched.org/event/90d9e1c479a944181f771f720ef967db

http://openeducation2013.sched.org/event/90d9e1c479a944181f771f720ef967db



514,614Students in enrolled in

Big Ten Universities (incl. Maryland)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference (accessed 1/17/14)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference



$340,906,168 Spent per year on

textbooks (using the most conservative

estimate of $662)http://www.nacs.org/research/industrystatistics/higheredfactsfigures.aspx

http://www.nacs.org/research/industrystatistics/higheredfactsfigures.aspx

http://www.nacs.org/research/industrystatistics/higheredfactsfigures.aspx



$34,090,616Potential savings if each

student had just one course using an open textbook each year Assuming 8 courses per student and 80% savings



$136,362,467Saved over four years



How do we make this a

reality?



What Needs to Happen

• More “turn key” open textbooks: create new and improve existing

• More support for adoption: professional development, time buyouts…

• More awareness: most people don’t know what open textbooks are, we need to change that



Invest Public Resources



Invest Public Resources



Invest Campus Resources









Call for Action



Call for Action



Raise Awareness



Raise Awareness



Raise Awareness



Raise Awareness



Who Can Help• Faculty: consider adopting open

textbooks, potentially authoring open textbooks, and spreading the word to colleagues

• Libraries: support for curation, creation and adoption, and support for campus organizing



Who Can Help• Institutions: provide resources

and support to faculty, leverage open textbooks to increase outcomes, competitiveness

• Lawmakers: policies that support (but never mandate) the creation and use of open textbooks



Open textbooks can happen, but we need to make

them happen



THE CHALLENGE



Save Students $100M by ABTS 2018



Nicole Allen [email protected]

Twitter: @txtbkshttp://sparc.arl.org/issues/oer

http://sparc.arl.org/issues/oer

http://sparc.arl.org/issues/oer