Bookstore Collaborative Saves Students $11.6 Million

The Minnesota State Bookstore Collaborative Services group of stores saved students $11.6 million via Inclusive Access digital course material programs across six of our two-year colleges in a seven-year span of the program. These verifiable savings are calculated as a comparison between the cost of a traditional text format versus a digital version.

Inclusive Access allows faculty to select the content that they wish to use in a digital format that is included in student’s tuition for these courses and content is delivered via D2L. Students have access to the course material on day one of classes, the access is financial aid eligible and, on average, student’s cost is half of a traditional print textbook. This program aids students in a significant way in their success in these classes.

The colleges involved in this program are served by the Minnesota State Bookstore Collaboration, managed by Director Gary Westerland.

“The Inclusive Access program was conceived in partnership with student input, participating publishers, as well as System Office and CFO support. In addition to the shared services personnel savings models that the Minnesota State Bookstore Collaborative Services provides to our participating Colleges, Inclusive Access is just one of our focused efforts on course material affordability, saving students significant costs and continues to grow each term and academic year,” said Westerland.

As the coordinator of our course material sourcing team, Anthony Ross was instrumental in the conception, promotion, and delivery of Inclusive Access, as well as our other affordability initiatives.

“Inclusive Access delivers a double win for students and faculty – easy access to course materials for all students from the very first day of class at the lowest prices anywhere,” said Ross.