Include Textbooks to Reduce Cost of Courses

Roxanne Missingham, Australian National University Librarian writes "Students say textbooks are too expensive – could an open access model be the answer?" (The Conversation, March 2, 2016). To encourage this, I suggest the Australian Government require universities to include the cost of textbooks in course fees.

Where possible I specify open access materials for my students. In one case there was no such book available, so I wrote it: "ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future" (now used by institutions around the world).

Some open and distance universities include textbooks in the cost of courses. It can be hard for students in remote areas to obtain textbooks, so it is easier for the institution to supply them. Also open universities have as part of their charter to provide access to those who are barred from conventional higher education, due to financial circumstances.

Open access books would help lower costs, but conventional universities and their academics, need an incentive to use them. As textbooks are a cost to the student, not the university, there is no incentive to lower their cost. Where the academic, or the university, receives a royalty from textbook sales, there is an incentive to increase the cost of textbooks. Requiring universities to include the cost of textbooks in course fees would create an incentive to reduce the cost.