Marking Affordable Courses at Penn State

Welcome

On this page…

  • What are Course Markings?
  • Why Course Markings?
  • How are Courses Marked?
  • How do students find course sections with no-cost or low-cost required texts in LionPATH?
  • What if a course section does NOT use the new “Required Text Cost” attribute?
  • What counts as a “required texts” for the purpose of this Course Marking?
  • How are “low-cost” required text costs determined?
  • Why aren’t used texts and rentals considered in determining total costs?
  • What are “No-cost” texts?
  • Questions?

What are Course Markings? 

Marking course sections that use no-cost ($0 cost to the student) and low-cost (less than $50 in total) resources as required texts is a growing part of the college and university affordability landscape. “Course Marking” is commonly done by adding some type of notation to a course section in the course registration system so that students can readily see that notation when making course selection decisions. The Penn State Course Marking Initiative provides course schedulers with the opportunity to “mark” a course section as no-cost or low-cost by assigning an appropriate attribute to that section in LionPATH.

 

For the purpose of course markings, “required texts” are defined as textbooks, workbooks, homework systems, software, courseware, and other required learning content. Technology and supplies are not included in this definition and would not be addressed by this initiative. (See “What counts as “course materials” for the purpose of this Course Marking?” below.) 

Why Course Markings? 

Marking courses as “affordable” in LionPATH would increase cost transparency and provide students with the ability to better plan for course costs. It is an important component in support of Penn State’s strategic plan foundation of Enabling Access to Education and our related access and affordability efforts. Importantly, providing course markings has been a recurring request from Penn State students expressed through our student government organizations.  

 

State and federal legislation have played a significant role in laying groundwork for open and affordable course marking. Seven states passed course marking mandates between 2015 and 2019 (Oregon, California, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Virginia, and Louisiana), and these bills have foundations in an earlier federal requirement that introduced textbook information into course schedules.1 Many other institutions have also implemented affordable course markings or are in the process of doing so as a matter of policy.  

How are courses marked? 

When entering information about a course section in LionPATH, course schedulers have the opportunity to use a new course attribute:

 

“Required Text Cost”

 

that has two associated values to identify a course section as using no cost and low-cost required texts (excluding technology & supplies):  

 

“No-cost Required Text” and “Low-cost Required Text (<$50)”

 

NOTE: Once a course section has been assigned the “Required Text Cost” attribute, that attribute will roll over each semester with the other course section information. Course schedulers will need to remove the attribute or change its value if there are changes to the required texts for that section in future offerings. 

How do students find course sections with no-cost or low-cost required texts in LionPATH? 

Students search by the main course attribute and then they can search for an attribute value in the same way they can search for courses that have the General Education attribute and one of the associated Gen Ed values [e.g., Social & Beh Sci (GS)”]. 

 

If a student clicks on a course section marked with one of the “Required Text Cost” designations, they will then see a longer description of attribute’s value in the Enrollment Information field.

 

For no-cost sections, the long description reads: “This section’s required text cost is $0” 

 

For low-cost sections, the long description reads: “This sections’ required text cost is under $50.” 

What if a course section does NOT use the new “Required Text Cost” attribute?

The absence of the “Required Text Cost” attribute can mean any of the following:

  • information about required text(s) has not yet been provided
  • information about required text(s) has been provided but not yet processed and updated to reflect the marking
  • the cost of required text(s) may be greater than $50 

What counts as a “required texts” for the purpose of this Course Marking? 

A “required text” is defined as textbooks, workbooks, homework systems, software, courseware, and other required learning content. Other supplies, such as clickers, lab safety equipment, art supplies, required calculators and other physical technology, etc. are not considered texts for the purpose of course marking. In other words, a course section that requires a clicker or lab safety gear can still be marked as an affordable course if it utilizes otherwise free or low-cost texts. Technology and supplies are frequently reusable. For example, a clicker or graphing calculator is generally acquired once and used repeatedly, such that once a student has these tools, they don’t need to buy them again. 

 

“Recommended/supplemental” texts are not addressed by this project because they are optional and students may presumably acquire them or not without negatively impacting their ability to succeed in the course, according to their own preferences and needs. 

How are “low-cost” required text costs determined? 

The aim of the Course Marking Initiative is to clearly identify course sections where the required texts total either $0 or <$50 (in total) without reference to the range of strategies students often use to navigate text cost complexity. Those options, including used and rental items often available at a lower price, remain available to students, for both low-cost and unmarked course sections.

 

To provide students with clear and concise information, Course Markings should be based on the total “new” prices of the instructor-preferred formats/editions as priced by the official Penn State Student Bookstore, which makes price comparisons available to students to help them find the best deal. 

 

For example, if a required textbook is available in print for $75 and in eBook format for $40, then the course should be marked as low-cost UNLESS the instructor requires the print edition. Course sections should not be marked based on used and rental prices because these options, when they are available, are already widely understood and adopted by students. 

Why aren’t used texts and rentals considered in determining total costs?

Used copies may not be available in sufficient quantity to meet course enrollment, and used prices are subject to wide variability. This makes it impossible to ensure that students who enroll in a low-cost course section will be able to find a used copy at a compliant price.

 

Similarly, rentals are a part of the very complexity this initiative is trying to help students navigate. With the Course Marking Initiative, we want to identify course sections that are affordable by design, rather than by a student’s ability to find the cheapest possible version. 

 

Course texts are increasingly complex in version, format, and cost. A particular textbook may be available in digital and/or print formats, new and/or used, in multiple editions (including custom), for purchase and/or rental, and available from a growing number of online retailers, in addition to our campus store. These circumstances, frequently in combination with each other, can create a multiplicity of possible available price points for any given title. In addition, students are confronted with access codes, bundling deals, automatic billing, digital first and digital only programs, and other publisher experiments, most of which are driven by commercial concerns rather than pedagogic quality. 

 

Marking affordable course sections saves students the additional effort of wading through the complexity described above and communicates clearly that a course section uses texts that are conventionally available for less than $50. All other existing strategies for finding the best deal remain available to students. We also recognize that there are students who prefer new texts over used and who prefer to own rather than to rent.

What are “No-cost” texts?

For the purpose of course marking, no-cost texts are those required texts that are free to students.  This may include certain types of library-licensed content, open educational resources (OER), free web-based content, and material an instructor has created or curated. 

Questions? 

This initiative was developed by a sub-committee of the One Penn State 2025 Guiding Principle 3 Committee, led by Dr. Ann Taylor (College of EMS and co-chair of the Open and Affordable Educational Resources Working Group) and including Tryphena Miska (Office of the University Registrar), Tom Fankhauser (Barnes & Noble), and Corey Wetherington (University Libraries). Questions about this proposal can be directed to Dr. Ann Taylor (atb3@psu.edu). 

References