Textbook prices have skyrocketed four times faster than inflation for the past two decades, and the average student spends $1,200 on books per year. Publishers continue to drive prices sky-high and undermine affordable options by releasing unnecessary new editions and bundling with online codes. With the cost of higher education rising overall, the burden of textbooks has an increasingly negative impact. Students must take on additional loans or credit card debt, work longer hours, or simply forego their books. In fact, 65% of students surveyed here at Rutgers have at some point opted out of buying a textbook because the price was too high.

As faculty members, we can help make education more affordable by choosing less expensive books or by forgoing traditional textbooks completely by choosing Open Education Resources (OER). Due to student and faculty organizing, the open textbook market has boomed across the country. There are now almost 200 peer reviewed books in the Open Textbooks Library, a one stop shop managed by the Open Textbook Network.¹

Though progress is being made, three major factors hold faculty back from adopting Open Education Resources:

- Faculty do not know about OER options
- OER options do not fully meet the needs of a class
- OER options are not peer reviewed

In February 2016, President Barchi funded an OER pilot program through the OIT and the Library. Modeled after the UMass – Amherst Open Education Initiative (http://tinyurl.com/AmherstOER), the Rutgers program opens up $12,000 in competitive grants for faculty to adopt OER in their classes for Fall 2016. This initial investment in the program is projected to save students $1.2 million in the next two years.

I support the Open Textbooks Pilot Program, and pledge to apply later this semester when applications open.

¹ The Open Textbooks Network is a network of higher education institutions that help advance the use of open textbooks and practices. This network includes four Big 10 schools - Ohio State, Purdue University, The University of Minnesota, and The University of Iowa.