Lower Cost Resources

Introduction to Lowering Costs on Paid Materials

Don't have the time, or not finding good OERs for your class? Discover ways you can still help lower the costs of textbooks for your class with these resources.

  • Enroll your class and students will receive free access on the first day of classes along with publisher discounted pricing
  • Publisher discounts means cheaper than the new print price and digital direct price. 
  • Over 17% of sections where a textbook was adopted are now in the D1DA program as of Spring 2021

For more information, visit Day 1 Digital Access.

Faculty Survey-Teaching With Digital Textbooks

Digital textbooks are an integral part of modern classrooms, facilitating student learning from day one at an affordable price. While there may be concerns, our survey found that the vast majority of faculty find benefits for their students:  Faculty Responses to AL$ Digital Learning Survey [PDF].

  • Direct your students to purchase from the Bookstore shopping site
  • Any textbook you require automatically shows a price comparison on the campus store shopping site including the online marketplace such as Amazon, Chegg, etc.
  • As a non-profit, the Bookstore Services provides pricing transparency in an effort to save students money

For more information, visit BeachBookCompare.com.

  • Submit your textbook information to the campus in a timely manner
  • The sooner you submit, the more used books, rentals, and looseleafs that the campus store will be able to acquire
  • General textbook information submission time is during the month of October or March for the upcoming semester

For more information, visit Faculty Textbook Adoptions and Resource.

  • Create, customize, and publish your own course packets through CSULB, whether it be a course reader or a workbook/manual
  • Services include copyright clearance
  • Average course packet price was $18.55 to students as of Spring 2021

For more information, visit Faculty Course Packets.