Learning science company McGraw-Hill Education and the University of Missouri System have announced a new agreement that will increase student access to affordable course materials, lowering the cost of all McGraw-Hill Education electronic textbooks by an additional 38 percent to meet the University's definition of low cost. McGraw-Hill Education will offer its entire higher education eBook catalogue through the university's AutoAccess program. The initial agreement gives students access to content purchased for five years.
Launched in 2014, the AutoAccess program is part of the university's Affordable & Open Education Resources initiative and is a collaborative effort between the UM System Campus Stores, content publishers and faculty. EBooks available through AutoAccess can be accessed from the university's learning management system. The materials are categorized under two tiers of discount options: 'savings' or 'low-cost.' UM defines 'low cost' materials as those that cost $40 or less.
McGraw-Hill Education, UM System's initial partner in launching AutoAccess, now becomes the first provider to offer its entire higher education eBook catalog through AutoAccess's 'low cost' option. The initiative will provide faculty with greater flexibility in adopting these low-cost materials in their courses. The program, which began with a single course section and 50 students, has now expanded to 300 courses, 700 sections and 40,000 students across the UM System's four campuses. To date, students have saved approximately $9.7 million.
In the last two years, McGraw-Hill Education has increased the number of institutions it works with on Inclusive Access arrangements - now totalling more than 275.
The UM System continues to implement campus-wide initiatives to encourage the adoption of affordable options and open educational resources. In June 2017, the university also launched a task force on each of its campuses to raise awareness of the impact of high costs of educational materials on students, provide information about affordable and open education resources, and incentivize faculty to transition to such resources.
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