New e-Textbook Pilot

The Chronicle reported recently that a group of universities will launch a new e-textbook pilot program.  Campuses including Cornell, UC Berkeley, University of Minnesota, the University of Virginia, and the University of Wisconsin are pooling their buying power and have signed on with one publisher, McGraw-Hill, to provide digital textbooks to a handful or courses at each campus.  This pilot is being paid for by the universities instead of charging students a fee but if the pilot continues, students would pay the fee.

In the article, there is a reference to new data on Indiana’s pilot project that states students saved an average of $25 per book.   The article does not mention whether the savings were compared to new books, used books, or rental books, or how the "savings" was calculated and confirmed.