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City Times
sdcitytimes.com
Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 74, Issue 4 February 13, 2020
Fight ing against t he cost B Y M E L I SA CABE L L O -CUAH UTL E Managing Editor onica Mor an enter ed the San Diego City College Bookstor e dur ing the fir st week of class knowing she had textbooks to buy. But the social wor k student wasn?t expecting the high pr ices she found on the mater ials r equir ed for her classes. ?I had to put the textbooks befor e other things that I would want or need,? Mor an said. ?I wasn?t expecting the book to be that much and I had other things that I had to pay (for ). I have to make sur e I get enough hour s at wor k so I can pay (for them).? City College pr ofessor s ar e fighting the r ising cost of textbooks for students like Mor an with a fr ee ser vice, Open Educational Resour ces. OER pr ovides high- quality educational content that contr ibutes to student success at no cost. ?Textbook affor dability is r eally impor tant,? said pr ofessor Ar nie Schoenber g at an Associated Students Gover nment event last November. ?I t?s a factor that determines student success. (I t?s) one of the r easons you guys fail and dr op out.? Accor ding to the pr esentation given by Schoenber g for the 2015-2016 academic year, the highest cost textbooks wer e fr om cosmetology and psychology. Pr ices also incr eased for textbooks in all major s. The U.S. Public I nter est Resear ch Gr oup found that between 2006 and 2016, the cost of college textbooks went up by 73%, which is over four times higher than the r ate of inflation. I n r esponse to the high cost of textbooks, college students often opt out of pur chasing a book, putting their gr ades at r isk, or par ticipating
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Occupat ional t her apy st udent Br enda Mont oya buys t ext books for t he spr ing t er m at t he Cit y College bookst or e. Phot o by Chr is LeFall/ City Times
in illegal solutions such as shar ing a PDF ver sion. ?Ther e (ar e) mor e options (now),? bookstor e super visor Dee Dee Por ter said. ?(Students) can r ent the textbook, a lot have gone electr onic, faculty ar e making their own packets or their own cour se mater ials. Ther e ar e ways to lower the pr ice of the book, and we ar e always pushing for that.? Schoenber g wor ks with the Textbook Affor dability Committee in an effor t to pr omote legal solutions, specifically encour aging the use of
OER in City classr ooms. ?We found that dealing with cheap textbooks has impr oved ever ybody?s exper ience acr oss the boar d,? Schoenber g said. OER gives digital and pr int access to r esour ces such as cour ses, mater ials, modules, textbooks, videos, tests and softwar e. These r esour ces ar e public, so students and teacher s can get access, and even contr ibute to them. But despite its usefulness, OER is not without blunder s. Using it means mor e wor k for faculty member s.
?The faculty have to wr ite for it and they don?t get paid for it,? Schoenber g said. ?They ar e wr iting for it and then giving it away, which is a little of a hassle.? Accor ding to the San Diego Community College Distr ict, using OER has saved City students a total of $53,841 in the fall semester. Mesa College will be hosting an Or ganizing for Textbook Affor dability event, on Sat., Mar ch 14 fr om 11- 2 p.m. in its L RC Building for anyone who wants to get involved.
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- Compiled by M elisa Cabello-Cuahutle