OpenStax Deal With College-Stores Group Will Trim Textbook Prices

The open-source textbook publisher OpenStax College, based at Rice University, has cut a distribution deal with a subsidiary of the National Association of College Stores that will lower prices on print versions of OpenStax textbooks.

OpenStax, a two-year-old nonprofit venture, offers open-source textbooks that are free online and that cost from $30 to $54 in print versions. Print prices are expected to drop by about 2 percent in 2015, thanks to the agreement with college-stores association. The...