The document summarizes research on the impact of educational pricing and open educational resources (OERs) on student educational attainment and decision making. It finds that as the price of college increases, student enrollment decreases. Additionally, preliminary research suggests students who have access to low or no-cost course materials through OERs tend to perform better academically. However, further research is needed to better understand how costs impact student course choices and withdrawal decisions, and whether OERs can improve educational attainment and learning. The document concludes by outlining three key research questions to guide future study.

1. Educational Pricing Impact on Student Educational
Attainment and Decision-making Process
Mark McBride, Fall 2015

2. Literature
Review
Student decision making process related to
educational expenses
Does cost of educational resources impact
student course selection?
Do Open Educational Resources (OERs) cost
savings impact educational attainment?
Do the use of OERs improve students academic
achievement?

3. Demand Theory
A theory relating to the relationship between consumer demand for goods and services
and their prices. Demand theory forms the basis for the demand curve, which relates
consumer desire to the amount of goods available. As more of a good or service is
available, demand drops and therefore so does the equilibrium price. (Leslie &
Brinkman, 1987).

4. Demand Theory
Research
Research shows low to middle incomes students
place a different value on tuition than higher
education institutions
“Affordability is a personal assessment of
whether an object or action is within the
financial grasp of an individual. This
assessment is based on an individual’s already
developed and highly specified personalized
assessment of their need, cost-benefit
tolerance, understanding of value, and
understanding of competing demands in the
wake of financial scarcity.” (McDonough &
Calderone, 2006)

5. Open Educational Resources (OERs)
The Hewlett Foundation defines OER as, “teaching, learning, and research resources
that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property
license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational
resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos,
tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to
knowledge.” (2002).

6. OERs
Low to no-cost course materials
Typically web based/digital
Evidence points to students achieving better
academically when introduced into classes
Early research shows retention increases in
classes where OER are used as replacement
to tradtional course materials

7. What we know ...
“increases in university fees decrease the probability
of university attendance and increases in community
college fee decrease the probability of community
college attendance for both students, indicating that
student attendance decisions follow the law of
demand for all income levels.” (Hilmer, 1998).
“Whether examining tuition, financial aid, or the net
cost of attendance, the evidence is very consistent
and can be summarized in one sentence: As the price
of college goes up, the probability of enrollment
tends to go down.” (Heller, 1997)
The increases in costs and fees at colleges and universities
negatively impact student’s educational attainment.

8. What we know ...
“Preliminary data suggests that students’ who have
access to learning materials from the first day of
class at no or little cost, tend to perform better
academically and complete their courses.” (Laman &
Hilton, 2012).
The cost and price of textbooks and other learning
resources can cost students on average anywhere
between $1168.00 and $655.00 annually.
(data from College Board and National Association
of College Stores (NACS))
The price of textbooks have risen over time, while access to
informational has grown exponentially

9. What we think we know
“ … that students who used the open textbook
achieved better grades in the course, had a lower
withdrawal rate, and scored better on the final
examinations.” (Wiley & Hilton 2012)
“Does having all materials for courses freely online
increase student access to these learning materials?”
(Hilton, et al. 2013).
Early evidence suggest OERs could positively impact students
academic achievement

10. Conclusion
Further research needed to answer these research questions:
1. Do students make course enrollment and withdrawal decisions based on course materials
costs?
2. Can the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) as a replacement to traditional course
materials help in students’ educational attainment?
3. Does the replacement of traditional course materials with OER improve student learning?

11. References
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