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I, along with my research partner, Lindsay Murphy, submitted a paper to Open Praxis for the July-September 2018 publication. The paper takes the position that there is an oversight of the 4 million students enrolled in private non-profit colleges — both in college affordability and OER studies. The paper presents survey data demonstrating the effects of textbook costs on students at American University, a mid-sized, private, research university. Basically: unoriginal paper topic, but original setting.

This is the abstract from the paper:

A survey conducted in the fall of 2015 at American University in Washington, DC shows that rising textbook prices similarly affect students at an expensive private university as those at community colleges and state schools. Research on high textbook costs that has demonstrated corollary unwanted behavior changes in students, including not purchasing the book, resorting to illegal online downloads, and poor study habits, were confirmed at American University as well. Solutions that have been proposed to this problem of prohibitive textbook prices, including Open Educational Resources (OER), could have an equally profound impact at American University, and potentially similar private universities, as has been demonstrated at less selective and more affordable counterparts.

Download the full paper here.

I also presented the findings of this paper at OpenEd18 in Niagara Falls, NY.