New undergraduate students at Western Sydney University will get access to $800 worth of free digital textbooks from 2017.
Undergraduate students in their first year of study will receive up to $800 worth of free digital textbooks when they enrol at Western Sydney University (WSU).
However the program doesn't cover the cost of a device to read the textbook — students will have to fork out for their own laptop, tablet or smartphone.
WSU anticipates more than 10,000 students starting university in 2017 will get access to the free digital textbooks, which can be used on campus or at home and are compatible with any device. Students with disabilities will be able access the books via screen readers and other support tools.
WSU is scrapping its free iPad program to make way for the digital textbook program, which may expand to include existing students, said WSU vice-chancellor and president, professor Barney Glover.
The move comes after student feedback indicated that textbooks, printing and photocopying have become too expensive for students. The average textbook retails at more than $100.
Eighty three percent of participants in the 2016 Student Wellbeing Survey by the National Union of Students (NUS) said textbooks were so expensive they can't afford them after they pay for transport, rent and food.
"This is an excellent move by Western Sydney University," NUS Welfare Officer Robby Magyar told BuzzFeed News. "For students from working class backgrounds, or on Centrelink, this means the start of semester will be a bit easier on their bank balance.
"To be honest I think the age of [the] textbook is over," WSU masters student Chris told BuzzFeed News.
"We are often told that the textbook is a necessity, but I find it is rarely used in favour of more relevant online research articles and journals available through Google Scholar and the University's library."
When Chris "needs" to buy a textbook at the request of a lecturer, he'll get it from retailers offering large discounts, or at second hand stores.
"Textbooks are often priced unreasonably high for something you may use once or twice in a semester," he said.
Chris said he would prefer if universities offered all students free online access to textbooks required for their courses.
"While I do think it is a good idea to be offering the text books for free, having an online version of the text available on the library's website is much more realistic, in terms of the amount of use most students will get from a textbook versus [its] cost," he said.
Another WSU student, Ben, told BuzzFeed News he thinks it's one of the better ideas WSU has had in recent years. And the real savings will come from less photocopying and printing.
"In my undergrad the copies of the books at the library were constantly loaned out; people took photocopies and pictures on their phone, and all sorts of nonsense, to avoid having to fork out for the books," Ben said.