With the rising costs of tuition and over-the-top textbook expenses, college affordability in America is always a hot topic. When the Complete College Georgia initiative was launched in 2011, its goal was to increase attainment of high-quality certificates and degrees among Georgians. To do that - college had to be more accessible, and it had to be more affordable. eCore was up for the challenge, and together with 22 college and university partners across the state, we are proudly doing just that!
In Summer 2013, eCore introduced its first Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook. For the 22 students enrolled in U.S. History I that summer, they were thrilled to save $45 on their textbook. Since then, OERs have been implemented in all 30 eCore courses. Textbook expenses, ranging from $45 all the way to $289 per book, were no longer required of students, impacting over 50,000 enrollments and saving Georgia college students millions of dollars.
The establishment and expanded availability of eCore courses already helped to provide a low-cost option for college students across the state. Adding to those savings, eCore was able to lower the per-credit-hour rate to just $169 in Fall 2014. The $20 tuition decrease has since impacted over 200,000 credit hours, totaling more than $4 million in savings.
As of Summer 2017, total student savings from the two college affordability initiatives reached $10 million, and we’re not stopping there. With a second tuition reduction taking effect Fall 2017, the next $10 million in savings is right around the corner!
Check out the infographic (and download the pdf here) for a breakdown of the per-course savings that helped us reach this milestone.
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