Student Loan Blog : Inside Higher Ed

2010 College Enrollment Numbers May Not Be So Bad, Survey Reveals

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:51:00 GMT

Although school administrators across the nation are reporting an increase in applications, they’re worried about just how many college students will actually enroll in their institutions this fall as families continue to tighten their budgets amid this recession, reports Inside Higher Ed (“Parents’ View of the Economy,” March 30, 2009).

However, a new survey of parents of college students indicates that while administrators’ concerns are valid, the economy may not have affected parents’ finances as much as educators originally thought, particularly among parents whose children are entering their freshmen year. Eduventures, an organization that tracks higher education trends, surveyed 7,000 parents with college-age children at a mix of 19 public and private colleges and universities.

Eduventures found that a majority of parents with freshmen — about 66 percent — said the downturn won’t affect how they will finance their children’s education this upcoming fall.

Overall, relatively few parents told Eduventures that they would not enroll their children in college due to lack of funding, although some parents indicated that they might choose to enroll their children in less expensive institutions to cut costs.

Of those parents with students at private schools, less than 12 percent indicated that their children were considering transferring to a less expensive school, and nearly 7 percent said they would encourage their children to take some classes at a community college. Of these same private school parents, less than 3 percent indicated that their students wouldn’t be returning to college in the fall, and less than 0.5 percent said that their children were considering dropping out of college permanently.

The numbers were only slightly different for parents whose children attend public colleges, with almost 9 percent saying that their children may have to consider transferring schools and less than 3 percent who believed that their children would need to look at dropping out of college. Nearly 6 percent of these parents thought that their children would need to live at home instead of on campus this fall.

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Aid Administrators to Lawmakers: “Don’t Kill Guaranteed Student Loans”

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:02:00 GMT

Just as Congress is about to vote on President Obama’s plan to end the government’s Federal Family Education Loan Program, through which families get their student loans from private third-party lenders, a lender advocacy group is urging lawmakers to consider an alternative to the president’s proposal, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Student-Aid Administrators Urge Lawmakers to Reconsider Killing Guaranteed Loans,” March 19, 2009).

Currently, college students can take out student loans through private lenders using the FFEL program, or directly from the Department of Education through the government’s Direct Loan Program, which Obama hopes to establish as the sole provider of federal student loans.

Instead of doing away with FFELP lenders altogether, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators proposes creating a new federal student loan model that would allow FFELP lenders to continue their participation in the federal student loan program, but under different roles.

FFEL Program Participants Would Serve New Roles

In a memo sent to Congress, NASFAA president Philip R. Day Jr. proposes that student loans be financed through the sale of government subsidized bonds to investors and that the proceeds be used to disburse student loans to colleges, who will in turn apply the funds directly to students’ accounts, similar to how direct lending functions today.

Under the NASFAA’s proposal, private lenders would no longer market college loans to students but could bid on Education Department contracts that would allow them to originate, disburse, and service the loans. Nonprofit agencies and former guarantors would no longer guarantee student loans, but would instead provide default- management services to students, including entrance and exit counseling on their repayment options.

A unique feature of NASFAA’s proposal would allow family members, friends, and private companies to receive a tax credit in exchange for paying off a portion or all of a borrower’s debt. State-based nonprofit lenders would still be allowed to offer loan-forgiveness programs for students entering in-demand professions.

Congress Urged to Consider Alternatives

Earlier last week, the NASFAA asked lawmakers to go slow when considering Obama’s plan. Lawmakers were also urged to engage in “deliberative” discussions regarding the future of student lending, The Chronicle reported, instead of just “ramming through” the government’s proposal to end the guaranteed lending program.

Obama’s plan aims to eliminate guaranteed lending for students through a budget resolution outlining the government’s spending plan.

If that resolution includes instructions to Congress’ education committees to consider Obama’s proposal by way of the budget reconciliation process, Day says it would be the death knell of the FFEL program and “prevent a full vetting of alternative proposals.”

The NASFAA has asked legislators to convene a stakeholder’s meeting to consider other viable options to reform the federal student loan program.

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Colleges and Students Could Benefit From Pending Federal Bailout

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:37:00 GMT

It seems that everyone is getting a piece of the government’s “bailout pie,” including banks, automakers, and perhaps even the nation’s colleges and universities, although exactly how much schools will get and when they will get it has not yet been established, reports Inside Higher Ed (“Manna From Heaven (er, Washington),” Jan. 16, 2009).

While provisions of an $825 billion stimulus package bill drafted by House Democrats earlier this week could change significantly before the bill is ratified by both houses of Congress — the Senate is reportedly in the process of writing its own version of the bill — a rough estimate by Inside Higher Education suggests that colleges and their students could end up benefiting to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in several areas:

Student Aid: $30 billion Nearly $15.6 billion would be used to increase Pell Grant awards by $500 per recipient to $5,350, a move that would help about 800,000 students in the 2009–10 school year and would wipe out the $1.4 billion shortfall projected for next year’s Pell Grant program budget. Some $12.5 billion of the bill would be used to increase the limit on federal unsubsidized student loans by $2,000 and to replace the HOPE Tax Credit with a restructured tax credit worth up to $2,500 to benefit low-income families.
College Grants: $4 billion Community colleges and for-profit schools could receive as much as $4 billion in the form of grants for adult education programs, so that these students may be able to receive career-related or job-education training. Some funds could also be allocated to states in the form of bonds that local governments could use to create “recovery zones” to help those individuals who reside in areas suffering from high unemployment or foreclosure rates.
College Infrastructure: $8.7 billion About $6 billion would be used for “higher education modernization, renovation and repair” and would be distributed to states based on the number of full-time undergraduates attending state institutions. Some $2.7 billion would be allocated to renovate, update, and modernize biomedical research facilities and upgrade equipment, with funding priority given to colleges that “serve high numbers of minority students” or “institutions impacted by a major disaster.”
State Aid: $39 billion A portion of this estimated $39 billion would be given to state governments “to help restore cuts to critical education programs,” including those in higher education. Some of these funds may be used to “restore state support for postsecondary education to the fiscal year 2008 level.”
Academic Research: $8 billion Some $2 billion would be allocated for research on energy efficiency and renewable energy along with $1.9 billion allocated for basic energy studies. An additional $2 billion would go to the National Science Foundation, $1.5 billion would be used by the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research, and $400 million to be used by NASA for climate-change research.

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Two-Year Schools Waiving Tuition For Laid-Off Workers

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Typically, when the economy is down, enrollment is up at the nation’s community colleges. However, in the current economy, in which the unemployment rate is at a record high, Americans who find themselves recently unemployed can’t afford to further their education even at inexpensive local institutions.

In an effort to help, some community colleges in Pennsylvania are waiving tuition for local residents who were recently laid-off, reports Inside Higher Ed (“The Jobless Discount,” Dec. 5, 2008).

Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa., extends a waiver to local residents who have been laid off within a year of applying to the school. The waiver, which represents a potential savings of $962, is valid for one semester to qualified students for up to 13 credits.

The tuition waiver benefits both students and the institution, since RACC students will get financial assistance furthering their education in the hopes that they’ll continue their education and become paying students once they’re employed, said David Zimmerman, a career services officer at RACC.

“It’s good will, and it’s good PR,” Zimmerman said. “It helps the community and helps people get back into the work force.”

This year, participation in the tuition waiver program is higher than in previous years, Zimmerman said. He speculates the closing of two local business plants owned by the Hershey Company and Tyco Electronics Corporation may be contributing to the spike in interest.

Tuition Waivers May Cost Pa. School $100,000 in Lost Revenue

Northampton Community College, located in Bethlehem, Pa. announced that starting next semester it would begin waiving tuition for those who were recently laid off due to plant or local business closings.

Under the waiver, qualified students will be able to take a maximum of 12 credits at a reduced cost beginning in January 2009. Students would be required to pay $28 in fees per credit, for a total savings of $900. The number of students allowed to enroll under the waiver program would be limited to the number of empty seats available in each class section.

Northampton President Arthur Scott said offering a tuition waiver may cost his school more than $100,000, because the school isn’t adding sections or other resources to accommodate for students who take advantage of the waiver, meaning the waiver isn’t considered an institutional expense, but rather lost revenue.

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Struggling Colleges’ Predicted Dilemma: Merge or Close Up Shop

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:58:00 GMT

Over the next few years, more small, private colleges may be faced with the decision to either merge with another school or close their doors as rising energy costs, increased competition for students, and the lingering credit crisis eat away at these private colleges’ profit margins, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Will More Colleges Merge?,” Aug. 25, 2008).

The economic downturn that is threatening both families’ ability to pay for college and donors’ ability to continue financially supporting schools to the same extent they have in the past, may mean that “colleges in difficulty are going to be willing to try more ambitious solutions such as mergers,” says Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges. This month, Woodbury College in Vermont announced it would merge with fellow state school Champlain College. In July, California schools John F. Kennedy University and National University joined together.

Ekman wonders if other small colleges, which have typically “found amazingly imaginative ways to thrive” under financial hardship, may also be on the verge of merging or closing. Other industry experts contend that the private sector of higher education has always been in some degree of flux with colleges constantly having to adapt to demographic changes and students’ shifting interests.

“There will be a handful of colleges opening, closing or merging [every year],” says David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. But Warren sees “no compelling evidence that we are entering a new era of consolidation in private higher education.”

Private Colleges Experiment With New Ways to Stay Afloat

Still others argue that the number of colleges officially merging may understate the extent to which small colleges are considering radical changes in order to survive, writes Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik. More colleges are turning to collaborative partnerships with other universities to keep their doors open.

Last year, Shimer College, a small independent liberal arts school that bases its education model on small class seminars and emphasizes the study of classical literature, relocated 40 miles away to the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. This year, Shimer also started a joint B.A./J.D. program with the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

The moves were needed, Shimer officials say, to help the “great books” college, which was struggling to keep enrollment at 100, attract new students. This year, enrollment at Shimer is up by 25 students.

Robert Zemsky, CEO of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education, an organization that advises colleges and universities on market strategies, predicts that mergers may grow in their appeal among both small, cash-strapped colleges and financially secure schools that see merging as a better way to grow enrollment and diversify their offerings.

This merger trend could be a blow to the U.S. system of higher education, Ekman says. “The diversity of the types of American colleges and universities has always been the wonderful strength of the American system,” he says. “To me, it’s a shame when any college goes out of business or needs to sacrifice its distinct identity.”

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Wachovia Suspends Its Undergraduate Private Student Loan Program

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:41:00 GMT

After posting an $8.9 billion second-quarter loss in July, Wachovia Corp. announced on Tuesday that it would stop making private student loans to undergraduates (“Wachovia to Stop Writing Private Undergrad Student Loans,” CNN Money, Aug. 5, 2008).

Wachovia representative Ferris Morrison said the company’s student loan lending subsidiary, Wachovia Education Finance Inc., will continue to offer federal student loans, as well as private loans for graduate and professional education students. However, as of August 5, Wachovia is no longer accepting applications for private student loans for undergraduates.

“At this time, we felt it was prudent,” Morrison said.

Wachovia Education Finance, the sixth-largest provider of student loans, sent a letter to its borrowers on Tuesday informing them of the change, citing “the current overall financial industry environment,” reported Inside Higher Ed (“Quick Takes: Wachovia Abandons Private Student Loans,” Aug. 6, 2008).

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Pending 21st Century GI Bill: New Benefits for a New Era

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:39:00 GMT

Many educators are excited about the potential impact of the proposed GI Bill, legislation that has gotten the nod by President Bush in its current form, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Gauging the New GI Bill,” June 20, 2008).

“I think that expanding the GI bill, making it more generous, can be one component of really expanding access to higher education for people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Suzanne Mettler, Cornell University professor.

Current GI Bill benefits, worth only $1,101 monthly, have not kept pace with the escalating cost of a college education. Many experts believe that the current level of veterans’ benefits — used primarily by those from low socioeconomic backgrounds — are not enough to help veterans attain a decent college education.

But in the next couple of weeks, the Senate will vote on a revised version of the GI Bill that would:

Increase education benefits to cover up to the cost of in- state tuition at the most expensive public college in a veteran’s state
Offer a monthly housing allowance
Provide $1,000 a year for books
Open up the option of allowing transferable educational benefits for a veteran’s spouse and/or children

Benefits Unlikely to Affect Vets’ Choice of School

Educators at some two-year schools, where about 40 percent of GI Bill recipients pursue their degrees — are concerned that their enrollment numbers will dwindle significantly once these soldier- students are able to attend more expensive institutions.

However Keith Wilson, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, says that may not necessarily be the case. He says the new bill isn’t expected to radically alter how and where veterans will attend college.

“In my experience, I’m not sure that’s necessarily true. I think convenience is still going to be paramount,” Wilson concluded.

Regardless of how the results of the bill shakes out, James Wright, president of Dartmouth College, says veterans should be able to choose the college that is the best fit for them and believes the new Bill will allow them to do so.

“Those who are coming out of the military should be able to think about going to the best schools in the country,” Wright said. “They should be thinking about going to the colleges that most meet their needs.”

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New SAT Test Fails to Show Improvements, College Board Finds

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:09:00 GMT

Despite dramatic changes to the SAT that were designed to help colleges and universities better predict a student’s academic performance in college, the adjustments did not “substantially change” how accurately the test predicts first-year grades, according to data collected by the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers the test.

Validity studies conducted by the board showed that the changes to the test, which included updated mathematics questions and the addition of a writing section, did show that more emphasis has been placed on writing instruction in the classroom, but didn’t do much to bolster the overall reliability of the test, wrote Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik ("The New SAT: Longer, But No Better?," June 18, 2008).

The studies, Jaschik wrote, also support the findings of research conducted on the previous version of the SAT, that the single best way to predict a high school student’s performance during their freshman year of college is their high school grades, not a standardized test.

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Drexel University to Open Graduate Studies Program in California

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:14:00 GMT

Pennsylvania–based Drexel University is planning to establish a graduate studies center and perhaps a “full-blown bi-coastal university” in California after receiving a 1,100-acre land offer just north of Sacramento from a group of real estate developers, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Higher Ed Gold Rush?” May 29, 2008).

Drexel, following a similar move by Pittsburgh–based Carnegie Mellon University to launch software engineering programs in California in 2002, has expressed interest in establishing a west-coast presence due, in part, to the declining number of college students in its home state. By 2025, the state of Pennsylvania will have approximately one million college-aged students, fewer than were there in 1995, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To establish Drexel’s brand on the west coast and to grow the institution in a state with a booming college population, the school has established a $10 million fellowship fund. The money will be awarded to students based on both need and merit, with the intention of attracting some 650 students in its first five years.

The Drexel University Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento will offer five master’s programs including business administration, information systems, higher education, engineering management, and library and information sciences beginning in January, 2009, and will add four more in September.

“This idea of starting up a new campus, particularly within an entirely different regional area, that’s certainly something you’re not seeing very much,” said Donald Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University. “I think it’s something a lot of other institutions are going to be watching.”

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Community Colleges Eliminate Friday Classes to Help Students Cut Gas Costs

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:54:00 GMT

Several two-year schools with large numbers of commuter students have reduced the length of their academic week from five days to four in an effort to reduce their students’ commute and help them save money on gas.

Making class sessions longer, these schools have been able to cancel classes one day a week, mostly opting for Fridays. This move has allowed their students, who are typically low-income and often work part-time jobs or support families while going to school, to eliminate one round-trip drive out of their weekly schedules.

Meridian Community College in Mississippi recently decided to extend its four-day week — already planned for the summer schedule — into the fall semester as well, according to a story in Inside Higher Ed (“Dropping a Day to Save on Gas,” May 19, 2008).

MCC president Scott Elliot told Inside Higher Ed that 90 percent of Meridian’s students drive themselves to class, and over half of those students commute an average of 30 miles round trip. By his initial estimates, based on earlier gas prices, which have continued to rise, these students will save at least $200 a semester on gas under the new class schedule.

The school plans to try the four-day-week schedule for at least one academic year before evaluating its effectiveness with focus groups and surveys.

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Schools Standardize Graduate Tuition for Ph.D. Programs

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:47:00 GMT

To adapt to the changes in interdisciplinary Ph.D. education, both Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania are standardizing their graduate-level tuition rates across the schools’ individual colleges, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Shifts in Ph.D. Tuition Policy,” May 7, 2008).

Cornell, which operates several state-funded and privately endowed colleges, is changing its tuition policies to be more competitive price-wise with its public university peers.

“Our tuition is just very, very high compared to a lot of the competitor schools,” said Alison Power, dean of the graduate school at Cornell.

Graduate tuition for Cornell’s privately endowed colleges will be reduced by 10.1 percent, or from $32,800 to $29,500, and tuition for the state-supported schools will be frozen at $20,800.

The University of Pennsylvania will standardize tuition for its Ph.D. candidates by leveling it to $24,000 a year for the first five years of the program and then reducing it to $3,000 for subsequent years. The university’s doctoral tuition fees are currently calculated on a course-by-course basis.

Moving from a per–course tuition system to a flat–rate tuition system for the school’s Ph.D. students will not only encourage cross-college collaborations, but will also enable professors to better balance the particulars of their programs, Andrew Binns, the university’s associate provost for education, told Inside Higher Ed.

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College Considers Working Overtime to Ease Financial Strain

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:19:00 GMT

Facing $4.5 million in budget cuts, Kean University in New Jersey is seriously considering “working overtime” by extending its academic week to Fridays and Saturdays, according to an Inside Higher Ed article (“Solution To Financial Woes: More Classes?” May 7, 2008).

The proposed solution is one of several being considered as the school faces a potential 17-to-24-percent tuition hike next year. It would offer tuition discounts for students who take classes on those days to help keep the tuition increase to a single digit figure.

Kean University officials say the proposal would allow the school to better use the classrooms the administration already pays to operate seven days a week. They estimate that on Fridays alone only 13 percent of general-purpose classrooms are being used at any given time.

But not everyone is happy about the proposal.

In fact, Kenneth Sanders, associate provost for academic affairs, says that many professors are wary of the changes. He also admits that the response to professors being asked to work overtime on Fridays and Saturdays has been “mixed.”

Critics of the plan claim that neither students nor faculty were consulted during the process, a pattern that has emerged before at the school under similar circumstances.

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Survey Indicates Significant Number of Colleges May Switch to Direct Lending Program

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:36:00 GMT

In the last few months, the number of lenders who have exited or suspended participation in the guaranteed Family Federal Education Loan Program has ballooned to 66 organizations, according to FinAid.org, leaving many schools wondering if their students will be able to get the money they need for school this fall.

The FFEL program, which funds the majority of federal student loans, has been abandoned by a handful of state universities, including Indiana, Michigan State and Pennsylvania State, in favor of the Direct Loan Program, according to an Inside Higher Ed article (“Drift Toward Direct Lending,” April 30, 2008).

Data from a new survey by Student Lending Analytics, suggests that the flow of institutions leaving the FFEL program for direct lending could be significant.

Some 28.9 percent of community colleges have contemplated moving to Direct Loan, while 7.2 percent have already decided to switch. Of the other colleges and universities in the FFEL program that responded to the survey, 19.3 percent said they were considering switching to direct lending, while 5.8 percent have already made the decision to do so.

Of those schools surveyed, almost 40 percent indicated a concern about the increasing number of lenders announcing they would no longer offer federal student loans as the main reason for making the transition. An additional 34 percent surveyed cited concerns about the financial stability of lenders.

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Study Finds Correlation Between National Professor Rating System and RateMyProfessors.com

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:58:00 GMT

A study last year was the first to find a correlation between professor rankings on a university-administered system with the rankings of those same professors on the much-criticized RateMyProfessors.com, writes Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed (“Validation for RateMyProfessors.com?,” April 25, 2008).

The results of a more recent study, to be published in the Assessment Evaluation in Higher Education journal, have found a similar correlation.

This year’s study compared students’ rankings of 126 professors at South Carolina’s Lander University on IDEA, a national student evaluation system used by about 275 colleges, with those on RateMyProfessors, a web-based professor ranking system.

According to Jaschik, the report emphasizes three significant findings:

Course difficulty ratings on IDEA and RateMyProfessors.com were consistent and corresponded with students’ grades in the courses.
Professor’s rankings for overall course excellence on IDEA correlated with rankings for “clarity” and “helpfulness” on RateMyProfessors.
The ratings between the two systems were so similar that the journal article authors say there is “preliminary support for the validity of the evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com.”

William Pallett, president of IDEA, told Inside Higher Ed he was a bit surprised to see that the rankings of the two systems were so close because IDEA gives a lot of control over the ranking process to faculty members, whereas RateMyProfessors places that power in the hands of the students.

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Congress Joins States and Colleges in Efforts to Reduce Soaring Textbook Costs

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:09:00 GMT

With the average college student now shelling out between $900 and $1,000 each year for textbooks and supplies, according to the College Board’s latest Trends in College Pricing report, schools, states, and now Congress are getting involved in the crusade to control the spiraling costs of college textbooks.

Propelled by studies that show the prices of textbooks are rising faster than the rate of inflation, the House of Representatives included provisions in the recently approved College Opportunity and Affordability Act that are specifically targeted at making textbook costs more manageable, reports Elia Powers of Inside Higher Ed (“Different Tacks on Textbook Choice,” Feb. 19, 2008).

The House bill (H.R. 4137), which passed the House on February 7 and renews the Higher Education Act, would have colleges provide advance information in their course schedules about required books to give students time to plan for expenses and comparison-shop for the most cost-effective options.

Also approved by the House was an amendment (H.AMDT.951) proposed by Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio that would create a pilot competitive grant program to assist a select number of colleges in setting up textbook rental programs.

States Enacting Their Own Textbook Legislation

H.R. 4137 would also require textbook publishers to provide more information about pricing and changes from previous editions, which follows bills already passed by some state legislatures, writes Powers.

Last April, for example, Washington state House Bill 2300 was signed into law, requiring textbook publishers to disclose retail prices and a history of revisions from edition to edition when presenting any materials to faculty.

In June, Oregon passed its similar Senate Bill 365 into law. In addition to charging publishers with providing retail prices and a list of all previous versions of a text to potential adopters, the Oregon measure requires publishers of textbook “bundles” (textbooks packaged with an accompanying CD-ROM or study guide, for instance) to make each component of the bundle available to students separately and to disclose the retail price of each piece.

In California, Assembly Bill 1548, known as the College Textbook Transparency Act, likewise calls for publishers to provide a list of revisions made to new editions, as well as for college bookstores to release the wholesale prices of textbooks. The California bill was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October and goes into effect in 2010.

Changes at the College Level

In response to the increasingly vocal concerns of students, families, and legislators, not all schools are waiting on Congress or state officials to adopt changes to textbook pricing and marketing practices. Some schools, writes Powers, have already instituted book rental, buyback, or other programs in a move to extend textbook affordability.

At Rio Salado College in Arizona, for example, a partnership with Pearson Custom Publishing allows professors to “build” custom textbooks, drawing material from multiple sources. Administrators believe this program could save students up to 50 percent on reading materials.

The University of Virginia, in addition to expanding its textbook rental and guaranteed buyback programs, is increasing its selection of e-books, which can save students as much as 30 percent over print versions of new editions. And a growing number of U.Va. professors are choosing to purchase older editions of books in cases where the new material isn’t a necessity, a move the university says cuts an average of 75 percent off new book prices.

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