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"Between 2006-07 and 2011-12, average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities increased by about $1,800 in 2011 dollars, an annual rate of growth of 5.1% beyond inflation. The average net tuition and fees in-state students pay after taking grant aid from all sources and federal education tax credits and deductions into consideration increased by about $170 in 2011 dollars, an annual rate of growth of 1.4% beyond inflation."

"The advent of the Web brings the ability to disseminate high-quality materials at almost no cost, leveling the playing field," says Cathy Casserly, a senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who in her former role at the Hewlett Foundation provided seed funding for MIT's project. "We're changing the culture of how we think about knowledge and how it should be shared and who are the owners of knowledge.""

"It raises the question of which is better for students: an imperfect textbook or no textbook at all? To address this concern, publishers of open textbooks are beefing up academic oversight to offer peer-reviewed material that they say is comparable to proprietary textbooks. And, they're finding an audience."

The Republican governor proposed setting aside $300 million from the Tennessee Education Lottery to fund an endowment that would cover all tuition and fees to two-year institutions for all graduating high school seniors. The plan also calls for reducing Hope scholarships for incoming students at four-year universities by $1,000 for the first two years.

Overwhelmingly, students are open to adopting digital alternatives to traditional resources because they provide value on price, content, and portability. These are all areas where traditional textbook publishers have stopped innovating and fallen flat. Our findings suggest that students have already adapted to cost and access barriers with behaviors not supported by the traditional textbook market. We are at a new precipice in education, one where digital innovation will define the way our students work, learn, and interact - all in a post-textbook world.

"The list includes dozens of totally fine schools where students can learn all the same things they'd learn at one of those expensive colleges on the East Coast."

"We are using the data from our initial offering of MOOCs to investigate the nuances of course persistence and completion, experiment with ways to measure learning outcomes such as peer-to-peer assessment, and discover and design new low-cost delivery models."

University of Baltimore students won't have to pay for their last semester of school anymore, under one condition: They must finish on time. The program, called Finish4Free, is more than a nice gesture to cut students a break on their school debt. The university thinks that letting students finish their last semester for free will encourage more to finish on time.

And in many states, a larger state appropriation is part of a compact that lawmakers are striking with college leaders: We'll give you some extra cash if you agree to freeze tuition. It's a bargain that legislators and higher-education leaders are willing to make in order to stem the rising costs of college.

""Where's the beef?" was the famous campaign slogan from the 1984 Presidential campaign. For two years, MOOC watchers have been asking the same question, as hundreds of thousands of students participated in free online courses that delivered knowledge but no certification of any real value. The Georgia Institute of Technology recently changed all that: Its May 14 announcement that the school would offer a fully accredited Online Masters of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) for less than $7,000 suddenly brought the abstract potential of MOOCs into stark relief."

Students could use some financial relief. According to an American Enterprise Institute analysis, the cost of textbooks has risen 812% since 1978, compared with a 250% increase in the consumer price index. As a point of reference, medical costs (often described as "spiraling out of control") are up 575% in the same period, according to AEI. The burden is significant enough that 7 in 10 students say they have skipped buying a textbook for a course, trying to make do without it because of the cost. OpenStax adopted a conventional editorial process because that was required to win acceptance in academia, Baraniuk said, but the books are still published in the same modular fashion. That means instructors have the option of creating their own versions, perhaps introducing their own edits or swapping in content from a different source, and assigning that remix. At last count, there were 41 altered versions of OpenStax Physics available in the Connexions repository.

Under the new effort, paid for by the College Board, high-achieving low-income students will also receive a packet of information on selective colleges, as well as waivers for the application fee. The information includes details on admission and financial aid policies, as well as on the variation in graduation rates at different colleges.

"While there's no doubt that a college degree increases earning power and broadens opportunities, today's high cost of education means it makes sense to more carefully consider which degree you earn. When it comes to return on investment (ROI), not all degrees are considered equal. This article exposes eight college degrees with poor ROI. "

"The schools most at risk are those without strong name recognition. While that might be unfair, it seems to be a fact of life. While Clayton Christensen has taken some heat from the projection that "in 15 years from now half of US universities may be in bankruptcy", the data from this survey lends some credibility to the concept."

"In the end, young adults need more education and training -- something the U.S. post-secondary system seems curiously bad at delivering. The U.S. ranks first among developed countries in spending on post-secondary education, but eleventh in the share of young adults (ages 25 to 34) with a college degree."

"too many young people are spending years on loan repayment instead of growing personal wealth through investments like real estate and retirement accounts. In the long term, Elliott adds, that can be a drag on the economy - and create a wealth divide between people who have student debt and those who don't."

" when access conditions in the research lab do not mirror access conditions in the real world, efficacy studies tell us nothing about the actual efficacy of a product. We have to add a consideration of students' ability to actually access and use (and as I have argued elsewhere, own a copy of) the product to discussions about efficiacy."

The cost of post-secondary education can be overwhelming for many Alberta students, and the additional hundreds or thousands of dollars spent on textbooks can weigh heavily on their wallets. Now, the Alberta Government is launching a new initiative, offering more educational resources online.

"The House joined the Senate in approving "Tennessee Promise," the plan Haslam laid out in February to cover the full cost of two-year college for every high school graduate starting in fall 2015. The plan also calls for reducing the amount of Hope scholarships for freshmen and sophomores at state universities to $3,500, a cut of $500 a year. Juniors and seniors would receive $4,500."

Baraniuk said OpenStax College's print edition prices are already exceptionally low - about $30-$54. He said the NACS agreement will allow OpenStax College to lower prices by about 2 percent next year. Beyond the per-copy drop in prices, Baraniuk said the NACS agreement will also save students money by reducing how much OpenStax College has to pay for shipping.