Nitzan Navick has come a long way. Her family immigrated to the United States. She was a first generation college student, attending Cal State Channel Islands.
Her parents did what they could. Scholarships and financial aid helped. But the costs of textbooks almost pushed her over the line financially.
"There was a big negotiation there. Do I buy this textbook, or do I buy food this week," said Navick.
The non-profit College Board organization reports that the average student at a four year public college in America is spending nearly $1300 a year on textbooks.
But, Cal State Channel Islands is one of the pioneers of a program to help deal with that cost issue.
"The program is called Open CI," said Jacob Jenkins, an Associate Communications Professor at Cal State Channel Islands. "It's a campus-wide effort to reduce the soaring costs of college textbooks.
He and Associate Nursing Professor Jamie Hannans are coordinators of Open CI.
The idea is to use the wealth of materials now available online, and through libraries. It can reduce, or even eliminate the need to purchase books.
In 2018, Cal State Channel Islands was the first Cal State campus to introduce what was known as Z-Majors. Z-Majors are zero textbook cost majors, relying on materials coming from libraries, online sources, and the instructor.
Navick says it made a huge difference as she was studying psychology, and communications.
Navick graduated from CSUCI. She’s now a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, pursuing a doctorate in communications. She's used the open source approach to replace textbooks in classes she’s taught at UCSB.
The concept is an optional one for instructors, and Navick says some are reluctant to steer away from text which have been a mainstay of their courses. But, while it's more work, it also allows those who are teaching to complete customize their class materials.
Boosters also contend there’s another significant benefit. They say when money is an issue, some students won’t buy all of their textbooks, or wait to buy some of them later in the semester. Having all of the class materials up front means students won’t fall behind because of money.
Jenkins says they’ve been able to demonstrate the cost savings for students.
It’s estimated that Cal State Channel Islands students will save about three million dollars this academic year through the program.