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Students
74%
74% of students said they had been assigned at least one free or non-paid-for material this year.
37%
Student preference for digital materials (37%) surpassed preference for print materials (33%) for the second year in a row.
51%
Outside of access programs, more than half (51%) of purchased course materials were made at campus stores.
Source: Student Watch™ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Course Materials 2025 Report.
Faculty
- Faculty required 3.5 materials on average across the 3.8 courses they taught for the 2024-25 academic year. This remains the lowest number of materials required by faculty since Faculty Watch began tracking this measure in 2016.
- Print remains the most widely used course material format by faculty. In 2024, 70% of faculty used print materials in one or more of their classes. This is a decrease from 72% in 2023.
- In 2024, 44% of faculty reported using open educational resources. About a third reported that uncertainty about what titles were available or concerns about quality were barriers to using OER.
- Two-thirds (67%) of faculty who have not participated in day-one access say they are interested in participating. About the same percentage were interested in participating in a fixed- or flat-fee access program.
- Almost all faculty report that students are first required to use their book in either the first (68%) or second (23%) week of class.
Source: Faculty Watch: Attitudes & behaviors toward Course Materials 2024.
Industry
4000
5.2
Median annual sales for U.S. college stores were $4.9 million in 2019-20 and 5.2 million in 2020-21
$490
The average estimated college store revenue per FTE (full time enrolled student) is $490.
Source: NACS Independent Campus Store Financial Survey from 2020-21 academic year
