The University of Houston enters the second year of its textbook access program following the huge fanfare it gained last fall. The Cougar Textbook Access Program provides students with a $299 flat rate for all course materials well before the first day of class.
“Students like that it’s so convenient for them to get the materials ahead of time,” says Deborah Huebler, executive director of Auxiliary Services. “Faculty like it because they know their students can learn from day one.”
Internal data emphatically backs this up, reportedly saving its students $10 million across the University of Houston’s four campuses in fall 2023. Moreover, the market share of students buying course materials from the bookstore rose to 79%, increasing by 62 percentage points from the prior year, according to Huebler.
“It helps us maintain our finances through volume, even though the margins on what is being charged is lower,” Huebler says.
Solving a problem with a similar textbook program
The Cougar Textbook Access Program mirrors the Department of Education’s Inclusive Access program implemented by the Obama administration. Textbook publishers struck a deal with Houston’s campus store operator to offer discounted, wholesale digital materials at a competitive rate, and the expense is directly billed to students’ accounts so that their financial aid can cover it. Furthermore, students are automatically enrolled in the program, with the chance to opt-out.
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However, the Biden administration is trying to eliminate the Inclusive Access program due to concerns surrounding the program’s transparency. One recent survey by Michelson 20MM, a nonprofit organization focused on education accessibility, summarizes the issues. Of the 111 students surveyed across 11 states, more than half found automatic textbook billing doesn’t save them money, and three-quarters experienced confusion or miscommunication around their ability to opt-out.
“Students are savvy consumers; they recognize when a deal doesn’t add up,” said Cailyn Nagle, open educational resources senior program manager at Michelson 20MM. “It’s crucial that their rights, options and preferences lead the conversation on textbook affordability.”
Michelson 20MM recommends textbook saving programs transition from opt-out to opt-in models. The University of Houston, however, has modeled the Cougar Textbook Access Program from similar in-house initiatives offered at other universities, like the University of California, Davis and the University of Hawaii.
“My biggest fear is that there are students who don’t know they are enrolled in the program,” Huebler says.
The university system worked with its IT department to create a pop-up form on each student’s online service portal informing them about the program. Students are then directed to select a check box stating they understand what the program entails and can unenroll if they choose. Of the 37,000 students enrolled at Houston, 30,000 have checked it off so far, Huebler says.
Other communication strategies include increasing social media campaigns, posting signs across campus, hosting town halls and meeting with department heads to alert relevant faculty.
Houston is also trying to drive its inclusive access program’s current price ($299) down by working with its open educational resource coordinator to incentivize more faculty to provide free course materials. The university’s campus store contractor has provided its OER division with $15,000 to grow its reach.
“Sometimes the people managing OER programs worry that having an access program is going to negatively impact their program,” Huebler says, “but that is absolutely not the case.”
Lastly, Houston is offering 98 scholarships to students enrolled in the Cougar Textbook Access Program.
