UA Cossatot Textbook Rental/OER Program has saved students $1,000,000

The University of Arkansas Cossatot Textbook Rental/Open Educational Resource (OER) Program has saved students $1,047,949.23 in the past three years.

UA Cossatot is the first college in the state of Arkansas to implement a textbook rental and OER program. The program was created in 2015 with the sole purpose of removing barriers to education for students.

Forty percent of classes at UA Cossatot do not require a textbook and instead use OER materials to supplement instruction. For the remaining sixty percent of courses, students pay a $30 rental fee per course to cover books required.

These textbook savings are calculated by multiplying the number of students in OER courses by an average textbook cost of $100, a number commonly used in OER to factor in textbook buy-backs and rentals, according to the Maricopa County Community College District.

“The $100 average cost per textbook is still very conservative,” said UA Cossatot Director of Educational Resources Relinda Ruth. “In addition to OER calculations, we consider the actual cost of books required in UAC courses and subtract the $30 rental fee, multiply that by the number of students enrolled, and calculate to determine our total textbook savings figure.”

While the total is impressive, the savings for students could be substantially more if the average book cost is replaced with actual textbook costs. Many students at four-year universities may pay $250 per textbook.

UA Cossatot Chancellor Steve Cole said, “Community colleges have a great advantage, we are flexible, can respond quickly to student needs, as well as community needs.”

Cole said that the UA Cossatot Textbook Rental/OER Program was one of these responses.

“UA Cossatot was the first two-year college in Arkansas to develop a textbook program that leans heavily on OER while capping student costs at $30 per course. We engineered this program with the intention to make college attendance less expensive. With $1,000,000 in savings, I think we have achieved this over the past three years,” said Cole.

Persons interested in taking classes on campus or online should see Student Services at any UA Cossatot campus or call 870-584-4471. Programs of study available at UA Cossatot are listed at cccua.edu/careers.