Brown Programs Fill Gap for Books, Food

Some college students with limited funds are forced into a no-win choice: buy course materials or buy food. Some don’t have the money for either. Two new programs at Brown University aim to resolve that dilemma for the lowest-income students.

Up to now, noted a report in University Business, students on financial aid were expected to pick up meal costs out of earnings from work-study or summer jobs. However, a working group exploring why some students couldn’t afford to buy their textbooks found that these jobs sometimes didn’t pay enough to cover both food and books.

Starting with the 2018-19 academic year, Brown will expand the amount of aid provided to undergraduate students whose parents earn less than $60,000 and are unable to contribute anything toward their university expenses. In addition to tuition, fees, and housing, the aid package will now include a full meal plan, ensuring students have access to 20 meals per week.

Also, the institution will try out a separate program to pay for course materials for students who have a zero-dollar parent contribution. Students will use a special swipe card to purchase course materials. Only first-year students will be eligible to participate in the pilot for 2018-19, but if it’s successful, Brown hopes to offer the program to all needy students the following year.

“We’ve found that some students are selecting courses based on how much books cost. Our goal is to ensure that no student feels compelled to make educational choices based on finances,” said Vernicia Elie, an assistant dean who was part of the working group.

Virginia Law Mandates OER Guidelines

Virginia is for open educational resources, or at least state legislators there think so.

The governor recently signed into law an amendment directing all public colleges and universities to develop guidelines for adopting and using open educational resources (OER) for their courses. The measure allows institutions to include low-cost commercially published materials in the guidelines, along with free and open materials.

While other states, such as Florida, have passed bills calling on their public institutions to take concrete steps toward reducing the cost of course materials for students, Virginia’s new law is apparently the first to emphasize OER to this degree. Virginia law already requires faculty to be aware of the retail prices of the course materials they choose and encourages them to select used editions when feasible.

Some university systems and individual institutions have set up programs to provide grants to professors for the creation of OER. The Virginia bill doesn’t include any funding for resource development, leaving it up to the schools to figure out how to motivate faculty.

The state’s Department of Planning and Budget, in its impact statement on the law, acknowledged, “It is unknown how many faculty members of Virginia’s public institutions of higher education would embrace the use of open educational resources and low-cost commercially published materials in their courses.”

The law takes effect July 1.

Textbook Affordability Talk on Facebook Live

As the hub of course materials on campus, college bookstores are right on the front lines of textbook affordability. Amy Hofer, coordinator of statewide open education library services, Linn-Benton Community College, Albany, OR, and instrumental in the Open Oregon Educational Resources project, will explore the role campus stores might play in affordability during a Thought Leader presentation at NACS’ Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) 2018 in Dallas, TX.

Her session will be streamed live as part of an open Facebook Live event on Friday, March 2, beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern. Go to the NACS Facebook page to experience the hourlong live session and submit questions for Hofer.

As part of her session, Hofer will take a look at the growth of open educational resources (OER) in higher education and how copyright factors into the creation of OER.

Her talk, coming just before Open Education Week (March 5-9), will continue the discussion around the cost of course materials and OER that was explored last November at the 2017 Textbook Affordability Conference (TAC) organized by NACS. Related resources from TAC and NACS Cram Sessions are available in The Hub online community’s public Course Materials, Digital Content, and Supplying the Campus Community library, along with curated resources for Open Ed Week 2018.