McGraw-Hill and OhioLINK Provide Savings for Ohio College Students

Columbus, Ohio (April 17, 2019) – OhioLINK, a consortium of academic libraries serving the state of Ohio, will continue working with McGraw-Hill to make course materials available at a reduced cost to OhioLINK’s 89 member institutions in higher education—representing more than 800,000 students in the state's higher education system. OhioLINK and McGraw-Hill began working together in 2018 to bring savings of as much as 80 percent to college students at participating institutions. OhioLINK will continue to provide its members with access to pre-negotiated pricing of McGraw-Hill digital materials in 2019, offering Ohio students affordable prices through an innovative and flexible delivery model called Inclusive Access.

McGraw-Hill’s Inclusive Access model ensures that each student can automatically have access to a digital version of their course materials on the very first day of class. This year, through programs like Inclusive Access, McGraw-Hill has continued to strengthen its commitment to students, educators and institutions to lower costs and increase student achievement.

“OhioLINK is leading the way nationally through its dedication to establishing more affordable learning solutions for college students," said Jennifer Becker, Executive Director of Partnerships at McGraw-Hill. “We're excited that OhioLINK opened its door to us. More and more, libraries are playing a critical role in ensuring the affordability of course materials. We’re committed to partnering with libraries nationwide to develop more affordable solutions for students."

“With Inclusive Access, students aren’t simply saving money on course materials," says Scott Virkler, Chief Product & Operating Officer for higher education at McGraw-Hill. "They are receiving access to their materials on the very first day of class, which has been shown to boost student success. It’s critically important that we think more broadly about ways we can help students succeed. While lowering costs is important, it’s equally as important to drive better outcomes. Our partnership with OhioLINK allows institutions across the state of Ohio to achieve both of these goals.”

“Serving our students is always our primary motivation,” said Gwen Evans, Executive Director at OhioLINK. “It’s our goal to make affordable learning accessible and easier for our member institutions to implement. Pricing partnerships like these support our member institutions wherever they are in their textbook affordability journey—our pre-negotiated and established model either offers our members a lower price than they currently enjoy or it provides an excellent incentive to get started with Inclusive Access, should they choose to do so.”

McGraw-Hill currently has Inclusive Access agreements in place with more than 600 college campuses nationwide, and saved students more than $55 million in 2018. Virkler added, “We see librarians as a key part of the affordability solution across Higher Education. As the market leader of innovative but balanced, affordable and outcome-driven solutions, we see it as our responsibility to work even more closely with libraries and library consortia to solve these key issues.”