Saturday, March 7, 2026
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Latest:
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Patrons browse through materials at a bookstore in 2005. Traditional learning is evolving and bookstores are already adapting to meet the changing technological face of education. — Photo by Brendan Gogarty
FeaturedNews

Tech advances mean cheaper education?

Guest Author
Patrons browse through materials at a bookstore in 2005. Traditional learning is evolving and bookstores are already adapting to meet the changing technological face of education. — Photo by Brendan Gogarty
Patrons browse through materials at a bookstore in 2005. Traditional learning is evolving and bookstores are already adapting to meet the changing technological face of education. — Photo by Brendan Gogarty

Technology is not only changing the face of education, but is also changing how much money students keep in their wallets.

In 2012, the non-profit College Board association estimated the annual cost of textbooks for students at four-year colleges at $1,168, and researchers predict that number will only get higher.

From 2011 to 2012, textbook prices rose 8.1 percent, while other goods rose only 1.4 percent, materials from the U.S. Department of Labor state.

At Chadron State, administrators’ push toward using open educational resources, teaching materials that are freely accessible and openly licensed, is having an effect on the bookstore operating out of the college’s Student Center.

The 2,900-square-foot Eagle Pride Bookstore is a subsidiary of Validis Resources, and currently has an operating agreement with the college until June 2016.

In exchange for licensing rights and a space on campus, Chadron State earns an annual $100,000 commission from the bookstore, plus a percentage of its annual sales.

The average gross revenue of the bookstore is based on retail sales and sales are down nationwide, Kay Hill, Eagle Pride Bookstore’s manager for 13 years, said Tuesday.

Hill said this is due, in part, to a shift from the use of traditional textbooks to open educational resources.

“There is a shift worldwide in how technology affects learning,” she said, “There have been a few departments who have been trying to transition to OERs for a couple of years.”

While these open resources may hurt the bookstore’s sales, professors are trying to do what “most benefits the students,” Hill said.

The learning styles of students are all different. Some students grew up with regular textbooks and work best with those, but some students who are now coming to college who have only ever worked with digital materials, Hill said.

Open educational resources are free alternative resources such as electronic textbooks, lectures, and entire classes that are created by colleges and nonprofits such as MIT and Khan Academy.

Many professors at CSC and at other colleges across the country are starting to use these, and many students have already participated in classes that use textbooks that are freely available online.

While OERs may have begun to spread at CSC, the college will continue to utilize the bookstore.

The governing body of CSC, the Nebraska State College System, renewed the bookstore’s contract at its March 15 meeting. This renewed contract allows the college to collect a commission of 10 percent on all sales up to $1.5 million that the bookstore makes, and 11 percent on all sales in excess of $1.5 million. This includes sales from the bookstore’s online counterpart, Neebo.com.

Neebo also offers digital versions of textbooks. However, the only e-books that are available for sale are books whose publishers have decided to create a digital version.

The digital versions of textbooks offered are often cheaper for students than the physical counterpart due to reduced publishing costs.

Although the current contract runs through 2016, the college has contractual provisions that allow it to decide each year whether to continue the contract.