In the spring and fall 2023 semesters, Temple University Libraries participated in the Affordable Learning Pennsylvania (ALPA) student course materials survey. In addition to obtaining results from Temple students, the survey provided both state and national comparative data. Surveys of this type provide insights into how textbook costs impact our students and their behaviors related to purchasing or obtaining course materials.
The surveys were conducted during the final three weeks of the spring semester and the first three weeks of the fall semester. Each survey was sent to a random sample of 2000 undergraduates. A total of 242 students responded to the survey.
Current Spending Indicators
Two survey questions provide some insight into what our students are currently spending on textbooks for their courses – and when they are not.
Overall, Temple survey respondents spent about the same amount on their textbooks as did their counterparts across the state and nationally. One positive is that 28% of respondents reported spending $0-$100 on course materials, whereas nationally, the number of students who reported spending in this lower price bracket was only 22%. Temple students may be more likely to have textbook costs in this lower bracket owing to more instructors adopting open educational resources or licensed library materials, or fewer faculty may be assigning traditional textbooks. Approximately 38% of our student respondents still reported spending $200 or more on their course materials for the spring or fall 2023 semester, though. How might we increase the number of students spending less than $200 per semester? **
Students were also asked to indicate the number of their courses that offered all instructional materials at no cost. Comparatively, 72% of Temple respondents reported that at least one of their courses was textbook-free. At other Pennsylvania institutions that participated, over half of the respondents reported no textbook-free courses at all. That may reflect the efforts of Temple Libraries to support textbook affordability measures since 2011. While it’s encouraging to know that a higher percentage of Temple students reported being enrolled in 3 or 4 courses that offered course material at no cost, those numbers are on the low side. How might we increase the number of courses where students are not required to purchase or rent commercial textbooks?
Students Concerns About Textbook Costs
What we do know is that many Temple courses continue to require that students acquire commercial course materials. Students responded to 20+ questions about their experience with course materials, mostly textbooks they are required to purchase. We learned that 50% of our students indicated they were moderately or extremely worried about the cost of their course materials. That is a greater percentage of respondents than either the state or national results for the same question.
When asked if the cost of required course materials ever caused them to not purchase a textbook, 53% of our students indicated that they occasionally or frequently did not purchase required course materials. That exceeds both state and national responses by several percentage points.
Strategies for Avoiding Textbook Costs
A more revealing question asked students to indicate what strategies they use to reduce the cost of required course materials throughout their college career. Only 1% of Temple students reported that they do not attempt to lower their costs. What the responses from Temple students tell us is that significant numbers of them use multiple strategies to reduce their costs, including purchasing used textbooks, searching for free online versions (often pirated PDF copies), and sharing with classmates. In many of these cases, Temple students engage in these practices, especially “Do Without” at numbers that exceed both national and Pennsylvania rates.
Comments Reflect Difficult Circumstances
Students shared numerous comments on the impact that the cost of their course materials has on their academic and broader life experience. Among them we found students sharing:
- The cost of course material has had a major influence on my educational progress…when high expenses are required it has been a worry that seeped into my class performance.
- [It] has caused me to be worried about how I would pay for necessities such as food, rent, etc.
- I try to not buy textbooks unless absolutely necessary. I really appreciate the professors that don’t assign a textbook.
- I have chosen courses and professors that specifically don’t make me buy textbooks
- At $150-$200 per book, it’s very difficult to afford as a student. If you cannot afford to buy the materials you will miss the assignments which will hamper your grades.
- I dislike the fact we students have to pay extra for assignments. The textbook I can deal with because there’s alternative ways to get the textbook for the course. But paying $100+ for the course assignments/exams is unreasonable.
Next Steps
When the fall 2023 semester results are processed and analyzed, Temple Libraries will share a final survey report with the Temple University campus. What can we, as a community, do to alleviate the challenges our students face because of high course materials costs? Here are several suggestions:
- Visit our OER Research Guide to learn more about using open educational resources (OER) as no-cost course materials;
- Faculty can consider applying for a Textbook Affordability Project award that can help fund their effort to transition their course to no-cost learning materials;
- Faculty can consult with their subject specialist librarian to discuss low or no-cost course materials for their courses;
- Faculty and students are invited to join Temple University Libraries when we celebrate Open Education Week in the spring semester;
- Sign up to receive our Owls for Open Ed newsletter so that you can stay up-to-date on the latest developments in open education at Temple University and beyond.
Together we can take action to lower the cost of course materials for our students in order to advance learning and student success. We invite you to contact us with your thoughts and suggestions or to receive additional information.
** Disclosure statement: The charts, tables and data presented in this blog post were prepared for Temple University Libraries by Bayview Analytics. Bayview Analytics was contracted by Affordable Learning Pennsylvania to conduct a statewide student course materials affordability survey, including data analysis and presentation of the survey results.
Do we have any data on the correlation between reading practices (physical text, online) and reading comprehension based on the accessibility of the text format? In IH, where all students are provided course texts at $0 vis-a-vis pdfs (a good outcome in terms of the issue of textbook accessibility), many of our students are limited to their smartphones as their sole text delivery device or otherwise must spend more hours than they already do staring at a screen. In my experience over the last several years, students are far more likely to engage textual material most successfully when it is provided them in print form. That may be colored by my own preference as someone who grew up with books not screens, but I’ve seen how students in my classes respond differently when they have a physical version of the text in front of them vs. an electronic one. This is especially true of students limited to smartphones, but even those with tablets and laptops approach the practice of reading differently on their screens than they do when presented a physical version of the text, whether a Xerox or actual book.
Thanks Andrew for reading this post and sharing a comment. You could likely find research studies that examine student comprehension on print versus text. I’m going to say they likely do better with text…but we also would likely find that students are increasingly showing a preference for digital because of the convenience and their comfort with screens. Below is data from the same survey discussed in this article. We did ask a question about format preference. You can see that the Temple students show a distinct preference for digital course materials compared to other PA and national sample students.
Which format do you prefer for your course materials?
National Pennsylvania Temple
Print 35% 40% 20%
Digital/electronic 31% 18% 31%
It depends 30% 36% 43%
No preference 4% 6% 6%
You may also find this article of interest:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/06/30/embrace-digital-course-materials-grew-during-pandemic
It is another survey by the Bay View Analytics folks -they do an annual survey on faculty course materials and use of OER. But their data shows that increasingly faculty are comfortable with pointing their students to digital course materials.
But yes, there is a legitimate concern that when students are doing their coursework on phones and laptops, digital distractions are a real concern (for many of us as well). Thanks again for your comment.