Pasadena City College Student Scholars Top Users in U.S. of Free Textbook Platform

Pasadena City College students are the top users in the entire country of a free online textbook resource called OpenStax.

At PCC, over 46,000 students are using a free OpenStax textbook instead of the print editions, leading to an estimated savings of $4.2 million.

OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University in Texas, said PCC topped the list of schools nationwide where students take advantage of the free textbook technology for the 2017-2018 academic year.

OpenStax textbooks are in use at 48 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S., and 2.2 million students did so 2017-2018 alone. OpenStax textbooks have been accessed by over 6.2 million students since 2012.

“These schools are driving access for all students by supporting the open educational resource movement,” Daniel Williamson, OpenStax managing director, said in a statement.

Students can simply access the web view, download a PDF, or purchase a hard copy on campus or via Amazon. Even scholars whose professors have not adopted OpenStax are welcome to access the system.

“Being able to participate in the OpenStax Institutional Partnership was immensely helpful in establishing and nurturing a campus community dedicated to increasing student savings on instructional materials,” said Walter Butler, acquisitions librarian at PCC.

OpenStax said their textbooks saved college students more than $177 million in the 2017-2018 school year alone. They are read in over 100 countries around the world. To date, 32 books have been adapted to the format with more in the works.

The University of Georgia ranks second in the list, with 42,245 students using OpenStax while saving an estimated $3.9 million.

 To learn more about OpenStax, visit www.openstax.org.