Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Steve Cramer, UW-Madison’s vice provost for teaching and learning, discussed a potential textbook affordability program with ASM’s Shared Governance Committee Tuesday.

Steve Cramer, UW-Madison’s vice provost for teaching and learning, discussed a potential textbook affordability program with ASM’s Shared Governance Committee Tuesday.

Vice provost hopes to drastically cut textbook costs through new program

UW-Madison hopes to pilot a program that would slash student textbook prices by large margins, according to a university official.

Steve Cramer, UW-Madison’s vice provost for teaching and learning, addressed Associated Students of Madison’s Shared Governance Committee Tuesday, imploring its members to aid in his office’s efforts to make textbooks more affordable for students.

“This isn’t going to go anywhere without your support,” Cramer said. “[High textbook cost] is an issue we need to address.”

The way to address it, Cramer said, is through the “university model” of online textbook purchasing. Under this system, UW-Madison would automatically buy online texts for every student enrolled in a course and then bill the students directly.

Because the university could purchase the texts through a “consortium” made up of 11 other schools and the University of Florida system, the average student would end up spending far less on class texts, according to Cramer.

Indiana University already uses the system, which they say saves their students approximately $3.5 million per year. Under the program, students save 78 percent on texts published by Pearson, 77 percent on those published by Cengage and 60 percent on Sage Publishing texts, compared to buying print copies.

Some large publishing companies like McGraw Hill are not part of the “consortium,” however. A few committee members were concerned that professors would still assign texts that are not available online, effectively negating the cost-saving mechanisms in place.

Cramer said over time professors would adjust to the new system.

“Wrestling a little of that [faculty] autonomy away is going to be evolutionary, not revolutionary,” Cramer said. “It’s going to take time.”

Through the proposed system, the university could also access data on whether students are actually using their online texts, which could help professors assign more engaging readings.

“If it becomes transparent that no one is using an expensive book … maybe [professors] ought to consider doing something else,” Cramer said.

The university hopes to start a pilot program involving a few departments either in Fall 2017 or Spring 2018, Cramer told the committee. He said that ideally a more comprehensive system would be in place in five or 10 years.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Daily Cardinal delivered to your inbox

But Cramer also stressed he wanted to hear feedback from students before going forward.

“You are the primary benefactors of this,” Cramer said. “If you don’t see it as a benefit, we’re not going to impose it upon you.”

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Daily Cardinal has been covering the University and Madison community since 1892. Please consider giving today.
Comments


Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Daily Cardinal