Textbook Cost and Usage Relative to Student Learning
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
16-4-2013 2:00 PM
End Date
16-4-2013 4:00 PM
Student's Major
Psychology
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Laura Riness
Mentor's College
Graduate Studies and Research
Second Mentor's Name
Melissa Lenz
Second Mentor's Department
Psychology
Second Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
College is an investment that students tend to make after high school; yet with no financial stability or income, college can become very costly. Tuition alone is averaged to be $7,323 at Minnesota state universities. Last year, 71% of Minnesota graduates graduated with an average student debt of $29,800. This research focuses on Minnesota State University, Mankato students and on how much they spent on their textbooks as it is another supplement added onto student fees. Specifically, they were asked how much their class textbooks for the spring semester of 2013 cost and what resources they had to pay for it. The amount of cost is then compared to the usage of their textbook relative to how much they have learned from the materials found in the textbooks. Books are the main source of communicating information across instructors and students. Why must students pay for their books when instructors normally don’t have to worry about textbook fees? Examples of a survey question asks how many hours students tend to study a week verses how many hours students are expected to read from their instructors. Since surveys are not all collected yet, one significant hypothesis is that students tend to find textbooks as a financial burden verse a career investment when it comes to how much they absorbed, or learned, from their class materials. The overall data will be collected and correlated with national data to alert where MSU students stand after their degree completion.
Textbook Cost and Usage Relative to Student Learning
CSU Ballroom
College is an investment that students tend to make after high school; yet with no financial stability or income, college can become very costly. Tuition alone is averaged to be $7,323 at Minnesota state universities. Last year, 71% of Minnesota graduates graduated with an average student debt of $29,800. This research focuses on Minnesota State University, Mankato students and on how much they spent on their textbooks as it is another supplement added onto student fees. Specifically, they were asked how much their class textbooks for the spring semester of 2013 cost and what resources they had to pay for it. The amount of cost is then compared to the usage of their textbook relative to how much they have learned from the materials found in the textbooks. Books are the main source of communicating information across instructors and students. Why must students pay for their books when instructors normally don’t have to worry about textbook fees? Examples of a survey question asks how many hours students tend to study a week verses how many hours students are expected to read from their instructors. Since surveys are not all collected yet, one significant hypothesis is that students tend to find textbooks as a financial burden verse a career investment when it comes to how much they absorbed, or learned, from their class materials. The overall data will be collected and correlated with national data to alert where MSU students stand after their degree completion.
Recommended Citation
Xiong, Mellisa. "Textbook Cost and Usage Relative to Student Learning." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 16, 2013.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2013/poster-session-B/19
