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Oregon State surveys students, collects local data to advocate for zero-cost textbooks

3 minute read The results from a 2018 Florida survey found that 64%-66% of students often don’t buy the required textbook for a course. These numbers didn’t surprise Stefanie Buck, director of Oregon State’s Open Educational Resources Unit. But they didn’t satisfy her either. Buck wanted to get a better understanding of how textbook costs affect Oregon State students specifically. To find out, she ran a modified version of the Florida survey at OSU. The results offered four key takeaways.

Microbiology instructor solves a costly problem for students, increases access to learning

< 1 minute read Linda Bruslind estimated that less than half of the students in her General Microbiology course were buying and using the required publisher’s textbook. To put it another way, the majority of her MB 302 students did not have access to vital learning resource in large part because it was cost prohibitive. (A new copy of the latest publisher’s edition runs nearly $250.) She decided to fix the problem.