Screen shot of an OpenStax landing page on their website.
Rice
University-based publisher OpenStax
announced today the top 10 schools that have served the most students with the
adoption of its free college textbooks in the 2017-18 school year, and Salt
Lake Community College was again in the top five.
Melissa Hardy,
assistant professor of biology at SLCC, used to require students to purchase a
book for one of her classes that costs $150 new. Thanks to OpenStax, that cost
has been eliminated. “I ask my students what they do with the money they save,”
Hardy said. “They talk about paying rent and car insurance or buying medicine
for their kids.” She said many of her students struggle, working full time and
taking care of children. “Some say they simply aspire to become part of the
middle class. This is helping them by reducing the cost of their education.
OpenStax really fits in with our mission as a community college. As for the
pedagogical benefits, OpenStax is also better for teachers.”
OpenStax textbooks
are in use at 48 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S., and 2.2
million students used at least one of its books in the 2017-18 school year
alone. OpenStax textbooks have been used by over 6.2 million students since
2012. OpenStax textbooks have saved college students more than $177 million in
the 2017-18 school year alone, and they’re used in over 100 countries around
the world. Thirty-two books have been published so far, and the library is
still growing.
“These schools are
driving access for all students by supporting the open educational resource
(OER) movement,” said Daniel Williamson, managing director at OpenStax. “Thanks
to their leadership and supportive campus communities, millions of students now
have one less obstacle on their educational journey.”
The top 10 schools
that have served the most students with OpenStax free textbooks are:
1. Pasadena City
College - 46,396 students, estimated $4,241,055 saved
2. University of
Georgia - 42,245 students, estimated $3,939,027 saved
3. Salt Lake
Community College - 41,339 students, estimated $3,742,798 saved
4. University of
Maryland, University College - 39,151 students, estimated $3,583,518 saved
5. Grand Rapids
Community College - 35,421 students, estimated $3,269,956 saved
6. Georgia
Highlands College - 31,414 students, estimated $2,869,610 saved
7. De Anza College
- 30,918 students, estimated $2,763,580 saved
8. Lansing
Community College - 27,812 students, estimated $2,499,835 saved
9. Hillsborough
Community College - 27,519 students, estimated $2,516,266 saved
10. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign -
27,080 students, estimated $2,447,362 saved