“The course materials will be available to any college that
wants to use them around the world, as long as they promise to not
charge students more than $30 to get printed copies of the
materials. Students who choose to use the books online and not get
a hard copy can use them for free. Either way, students will
potentially save hundreds of dollars a course.“The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
estimates the program could save students more than $1 million this
school year if just the course designers use the nearly free books.
If instructors across the state offering classes from U.S. history
to statistics adopt the books, it could save students tens of
millions of dollars.“Michael Kenyon, a math instructor at Green River Community
College, said he is using the open source materials for a
pre-calculus course this fall. His college compared the nearly free
textbook with others on the market and decided the quality was
similar and the price was much better.”