HSU Faculty,

Affordability in a college education is a crucial factor for student retention and graduation. HSU Sustainable Learning provides workshops that can help you find high-quality, and lower-cost textbooks. With CSU Affordable Learning Solutions funds, the HSU Library is offering an opportunity to participate in a workshop to learn about strategies to make a college education more affordable, and receive a $300 stipend for your participation in a 2-hour hands-on workshop on Tuesday, October 31st from 10-noon followed by lunch.

To sign up, please fill out this form: https://goo.gl/forms/OuiLpFuy03X59snO2

What is the impact of textbook costs on students?

Survey results of 309 HSU students during fall 2016 showed:

• 65% of students indicated they skipped buying a required textbooks because of its costs (Impacts learning)
• 22.6% said they have not taken or have dropped a course because of textbook costs (Impacts time to graduation)

Florida’s 2016 survey results of 22,000 students showed: 47.6% take fewer courses; 26.1% drop a course; 20.7% withdraw from a course; 27.6% earn a poor grade because they can’t afford to buy textbook.

To learn more about...

• CSU Affordable Learning Solutions, please visit:  als.csuprojects.org
• To learn more about what HSU Faculty are doing about making college more affordable, visit:  HSU AL$ Showcases.
• Open Educational Resources:  libguides.humboldt.edu/openedu

HSU Sustainable Learning program is a campus strategy for implementing the CSU Affordable Learning Solutions initiative. HSU College of Extended Education & Global Engagement and HSU Library have partnered with the Bookstore, the Student Disability Resources Center, and others to offer a faculty development program to decrease the cost of an education by promoting and supporting faculty in evaluating and adopting high-quality, peer-reviewed open textbooks and open educational resources (OER), and other resources that reduce the need for costly textbooks. For more details, visit: library.humboldt.edu/about/sustainable.html

In addition, an immediate way you can help to reduce the cost of a college education and increase student success is to promote textbooks on reserve in the HSU Library and by placing your required readings on reserve.