Manor College in Jenkintown working toward easing burden of textbook costs

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Manor College in Jenkintown is among a growing number of colleges locally and nationally that are working on easing the burden of textbook costs for students, writes Susan Snyder for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer.

According to some estimates, students pay more than $1,000 a year for textbooks. A single print textbook for some subjects can cost upwards of $200.

Many students are not able to afford those extra costs. Instead, they buy a used version of previous editions, rent or borrow the book, or choose an e-book version. Some of them take pictures of key pages with their phones or even download pirated e-books.

Dr. Cherie Crosby

To help with this issue, many colleges are turning to “Open Educational Resources.”

Manor College recently surveyed more than 50 faculty from a variety of disciplines and found that most of them use open educational resources. But the majority also said they still use a printed textbook.

“It’s a progression,” said Cherie Crosby, dean of education and professional studies. “I don’t know if we’ll be completely OER, but we’re moving toward that.”

Read more about the efforts to reduce textbook costs at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

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