Ending Poverty

Reducing students’ financial burden through free textbooks

Adrian Stagg , Manager (Open Educational Practice); Nikki Andersen (Open Education Content Librarian)

University should be focused on educational opportunity, but for many students this is overshadowed by financial instability.  Australian student poverty causes one in seven students to regularly miss meals (Universities Australia, 2018),^[2] increases instances of mental health issues and access to medical services (ACOSS, 2019),^[3] reduces housing stability (Morris, Hastings, & Ramia, 2021)^[4], and limits student access to essential health services (ACOSS, 2019). Additionally, educational costs are a contributing factor to student retention (2019), four out of five domestic students undertake paid employment whilst studying even though half of these students admit their job negatively impacts their study (Universities Australia, 2018).

Whilst most costs associated with study (such as course fees, travel, rent, internet and phone bills) are beyond the control of individual lecturers and institutions, the cost of learning resources can be directly addressed. At the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), the student cohort is approximately 75% online, 52% first-in-family, and 25% from low socio-economic backgrounds; we also service the second-largest incarcerated student population nationally (over 700 students).  By encouraging and supporting lecturers to adopt, adapt, and author open textbooks, the institution reduces costly textbook bills to effectively zero.

The focus of open educational practice is to increase is to increase access, affordability, and participation in higher education (Barker, Jeffrey, Jhangiani, & Veletsianos, 2018),^[5] whilst supporting open-informed pedagogies and authentic assessment practices (Wiley, & Hilton III, 2018)^[6] and positioning the university as a contributor to societal knowledge. Open textbooks are included in The Hewlett Foundation’s (2022) open resource definition “teaching, learning and research materials…that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permit no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”^[7]

UniSQ has produced 15 open textbooks across 42 courses, saving students AUD 723,000 (2015-2022). Our open texts have been accessed on every continent and country, and offer flexibility for students and self-directed learners to engage with knowledge generated by the university. This has reduced the financial burden on UniSQ’s students, particularly those from low-socio economic backgrounds, whilst simultaneously encouraging pedagogical innovation from faculty. Whilst the use of open textbooks will not end poverty, it effectively and directly contributes to an environment that promotes greater equity of access to educational opportunity – and thus employment, empowerment, and social mobility for students.