IHE: Biden Limits "Inclusive Access" Required Textbooks

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Biden Administration Looks to Clamp Down on Inclusive Access

Gotta say, students hated these required texts, and I hated having to negotiate the lousy software and trying to figure out what students are supposed to do with a text I never wanted in the first place.

Go Joe.

I had no idea this practice was called "Inclusive Access."  Cheesy but effective marketing on the part of textbook publishers. 

It is a particularly ironic label considering that "Inclusive Access" means students will pay anywhere from $20 to $70 or more for a book that they could find on Amazon for $4.

Lower Deck:

For nearly a decade, universities have been able to automatically charge students for books and supplies, creating a system the Education Department says lacks transparency.

The Biden administration wants to roll back an Obama-era policy that allowed a procurement model for digital textbooks and course materials to flourish—a move that's alarmed publishers and institutions, but one that student advocates say would give students more choices.

The Association of American Publishers says nearly half of all degree-granting institutions have adopted a version of the sourcing option known as inclusive or equitable access, in which students receive all required course materials—offered for sale at below-market rates through deals struck between institutions, publishers and campus bookstores—by the first day of class as part of their tuition and fees.

The Education Department proposes to take away colleges' ability to automatically bill students for their books and supplies, with only a few exceptions. Instead, students would have to opt in.

[marshwiggle]

IHE: Biden Administration Looks to Clamp Down on Inclusive Access

Gotta say, students hated these required texts, and I hated having to negotiate the lousy software and trying to figure out what students are supposed to do with a text I never wanted in the first place.

Go Joe.

I had no idea this practice was called "Inclusive Access."  Cheesy but effective marketing on the part of textbook publishers. 

It is a particularly ironic label considering that "Inclusive Access" means students will pay anywhere from $20 to $70 or more for a book that they could find on Amazon for $4.

Yeah, it's one of those models to keep publishers with a steady stream of revenue, like trying to require the "newest" versions of textbooks to be used when there hasn't been any substantial change for years.

I haven't used textbooks for my courses for years.

[Wahoo Redux]

My own experiences were that students frequently bought used off Amazon or skipped buying textbooks altogether.  Textbook publishers came up with this slick method of guaranteed sales and then apparently used a couple of DEI buzzwords to stick the sale.

[mythbuster]

The one big plus to inclusive access is that students are guaranteed to have the materials on day one. No more waiting a week or more for financial aid to process with students telling me that they can't do the work because of that and so should be given extensions. The irony of this is that it's the federal financial aid regs that create this particular issue in the first place.
   Now the better solution is to go open access. But for those of us who use online homework systems, those just don't really exist in open access formats.

[eigen]

Our campus tried to institute something like this as an "opt out" model and faculty revolted.

Now it's "opt in" but never really benefits students because it's nearly always cheaper to find books elsewhere.

[apl68]

Sounds like "inclusive access" was one of those practices that could be useful, but got abused as a way of jacking up prices.  Seems to happen a lot in higher ed.