Rutgers students join march to Congress that results in $5 million for affordable textbooks | The Daily Targum

"Purchasing textbooks for college can be a daunting task for students who struggle to keep up with the cost of their education. A group of students from U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) marched to Congress on Wednesday to fight for easier access to classroom materials — and they won.

U.S. PIRG is a grassroots organization that advocates for the public interest, according to its website. Students from the non-profit, including Rutgers students, have convinced Congress appropriators to commit $5 million dollars for a pilot grant program for open educational resources (OER). The bill makes a major investment in open textbooks, which unlike pricey textbooks, are published below a public license that make books freely accessible and downloadable to students and faculty. 

April Nicklaus, the chair of New Jersey’s branch of U.S. PIRG, said that OER will be modeled similarly to Rutgers Open and Affordable Textbooks (OAT) program that has already saved students $2 million since its implementation two years ago. The program encourages professors to move away from privately published texts and adopt these alternative books which take the financial burden off of students. ..."