How do you calculate OER cost savings?

[Wolf, Page]

Hello,

 

Our college is trying to put a plan in place to identify how much money our students have saved by taking classes that use OER textbooks.  Would love to know what other institutions are doing to track cost savings and come up with their numbers. 

 

I also had some specific questions:

1)      When calculating cost savings to students, do you ONLY include OER, or do you also include classes that may use low- or no-cost textbook alternatives?

2)      Do you account for ROI…time/money spent internally to educate faculty, assist faculty, grants, etc.?

3)      What is the time frame you use to track (savings from one year to another, or across years?)

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

Page J. Wolf, Ph.D.

Faculty Development Chair

Teaching, Learning, and Educational Technology Center

College of Lake County

19351 W. Washington St.

Grayslake, IL 60030

847/543-2446

pw...@clcillinois.edu

 

[Lisa Young]

Hi! We calculate our savings for the Maricopa Millions project using the top 50 enrollment courses and developmental education courses that have ben identified as being either no cost or low cost. We calculate based on a very conservative class size of 20 students per class and a textbook cost of $100. We do not include any ROI or internal costs in these calculations, just savings to students. We track each semester and also cumulatively since the beginning of our OER initiative.

Hope this helps,

Lisa

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"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled" -Plutarch

Lisa C. Young, Ph.D. Faculty Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Scottsdale Community College p:4804236222 | e:lisa....@scottsdalecc.edu | w:http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/ | a:9000 E. Chaparral Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85256

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[Muse, Herbert Edward]

Page:

 

1.We just classify both Z courses (no costs for instructional materials) and OERs together.  OERs are included in the overall Z course count.  Then we multiply students in every section by $100

2. No, too many factors to compute here – travel, lights, computers, grants, instructional design support, numerous other factors in the overall Open Pedagogy scheme.

3. Semester to semester as of now.  Eventually, we will probably compare spring of one year with spring of the former year, etc.

 

Thanks.

 

Buddy Muse, Montgomery College

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[Wolf, Page]

Yes, very helpful, thanks!  This helps simplify some things, as we were thinking of somehow trying to identify actual textbook costs for each of the sections we are offering as OER. 

 

-Page

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"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled" -Plutarch

 

Lisa C. Young, Ph.D. Faculty Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Scottsdale Community College p:4804236222 | e:lisa....@scottsdalecc.edu | w:http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/ | a:9000 E. Chaparral Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85256

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[Wolf, Page]

Thanks, Buddy!  Sounds very similar to what Maricopa does.  Our vice-president was the one asking about ROI (mainly because if we present to the board of trustees, they would most likely want to know), but it does make sense not to worry about it in the overall projected cost savings to students. 

 

-Page

[Muse, Herbert Edward]

We also received an ATD grant this past year for OERs.  In addition to that we were awarded a place in the research component of the project.  One of the pieces of this research is to investigate the sources of ROI.  I’m not sure who will be able to see the results of this research.  If there is any way I can share the results I will.

 

Thanks.

 

Buddy

[David Shulman]

Hello:

 

At Broward College we use the average figure of $1,234 that is nationally reported for textbook costs for a full-time student, which breaks down to $124 per class (for a new textbook). We conservatively use $100 (which matches what Buddy reported for Montgomery) and our average class size of 24 for each OER/no-cost section to calculate the total savings.

 

Regards,

David.

 

——————————

David Shulman, Ph.D., Campus President

Broward College Online – Florida’s Global Campus
& the Willis Holcombe Center

BC STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

225 E. Las Olas Boulevard

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

 

Phone: 954-201-7933

Fax:       954-201-7937

Web:     online.broward.edu

 

From: cccoer-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cccoer-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Wolf, Page
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 2:20 PM
To: cccoer-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: How do you calculate OER cost savings?

 

Hello,

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[Glapa-Grossklag, James]

Hi all,

At College of the Canyons, we follow the approach that David describes for Broward.

Thanks,

James Glapa-Grossklag
Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources and Distance Learning
Director, CCC Distance Education Captioning & Transcription Grant
College of the Canyons
T: 661.362.3632
E: james.glap...@canyons.edu

Past President of the Board, Open Education Consortium
Past President, Directors of Educational Technology in California Higher Education

_____________________________
From: David Shulman <dshu...@broward.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 13:22
Subject: RE: How do you calculate OER cost savings?
To: <cccoer-...@googlegroups.com>

Hello:

 

At Broward College we use the average figure of $1,234 that is nationally reported for textbook costs for a full-time student, which breaks down to $124 per class (for a new textbook). We conservatively use $100 (which matches what Buddy reported for Montgomery) and our average class size of 24 for each OER/no-cost section to calculate the total savings.

 

Regards,

David.

 

——————————

David Shulman, Ph.D., Campus President

Broward College Online –Florida’s Global Campus
& the Willis Holcombe Center

BC STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

225 E. Las Olas Boulevard

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

 

Phone: 954-201-7933

Fax:       954-201-7937

Web:     Web:     online.broward.edu

[Corrie Bergeron]

If we don't know the cost of the text that's being replaced, we ballpark a figure of $60, figuring a $100 book that the student sells back for $40.  

----------------------------------
Corrie Bergeron, M.Ed.
Instructional Designer
Blackboard System Administrator
Lakeland Community College
7700 Clocktower Dr. Kirtland, OH, 44094-5198
C-2060
440-525-7232
cber...@lakelandcc.edu
https://lakelandcc.webex.com/meet/cbergeron

Quality Matters Master Reviewer
Designer, QM-certified course EDUC 2300, 2016
2015 -2017 SIIA CODiE Awards Judge

[bart852]

IPEDS data as reported by NCES and College Board for books, supplies, and equipment cannot be used as a proxy for textbook costs. 

IPEDS data comes from financial aid offices' estimates for cost of attendance for books, supplies and equipment and may also include other categories of costs that aid offices are free to include or not include. California community colleges for example include internet and computer hardware costs.  Aid offices have nearly total discretion on how they estimate these costs and there is little consistency. Some aid offices boost the numbers to increase amount of money students can borrow, while others try to reduce these costs so students don't over borrow.  This data was designed for one purpose (aid), but are often misapplied for other purposes. Some survey students, some use national numbers reported by the College Board or others use only new textbook costs or sampling of courses.Some do fixed amount or percentage increases every year, others leave the same estimated costs locked in place for years.  Rarely is there any deep analysis of actual cost data. 

 Aid offices are also supposed to annually review these estimates, but seldom do.   For example, Broward has been estimating the average cost for books and supplies at $1,224 since the 2010-2011 school year, -seven school years there has been no change in the estimated cost, which followed two years of estimates of $1,200. Adjusting for standard CPI Inflation the cost for books and supplies at Broward today is less than it was in 2010.  At Montgomery College books and supplies for most of the decade in 2000's was low and increased each year by $10 until 2008 and 2009 it increased $25 each year until it reached $650 for the 2009-2010 school year.  In 2010-2011, the budget increased to $1,200 -an 84.6% increase over the previous year's budget. 

Feel free to call the College Board or NCES.  Or read the U.S. Government Accountability Office report on textbook costs, which clearly state IPEDS does not represent textbook costs. 

There is an interesting session coming up at BcOpen Conference on this very issue and the research may help further inform this conversation: http://sched.co/9m5p 

Also the Urban Institute recently released a report that also helps explain cost of attendance budgets: http://collegeaffordability.urban.org/prices-and-expenses/student-budgets/#/total_cost_of_attendance

Hope this helps.

Rich Hershman

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