9 September, 2013: ACOT is donating funds to the development of new online textbooks in an effort to keep the cost of higher education affordable for students.

“The cost of all the materials continues to go up. Schools pass the cost on to the students and tuition keeps going up,” said ACOT Chief of Operations, Lute Atieh. “ACOT’s tuition has NOT gone up since 2005 and there are NO plans to do so.”

According to the Education Database Online in the United States the average college textbook cost is around $175/per book. In fact, students can end up spending $1400 a year just on books.

“During my first attempt at college, on campus, my tuition and book rates went up each year,” said Atieh. “I finally made the switch to online where I could work during the day, attend live class at night and budget my education. As a result, I was able to pay off my student loans within 5 years.”

ACOT guarantees each student in writing that their cost will not go up while they are attending the college. As part of an ongoing effort to keep costs affordable to students ACOT has recently become part of the OpenStax Network which develops high-quality textbooks for college courses. The textbooks can be downloaded for free or students can purchase the books for only the cost of printing.

So far, ACOT has donated $1,000 but plans to continue to support and work with the organization to publish more of the books needed by students at ACOT.

“Donating to OpenStax College will help in building these books and we will be adopting them as more books become available,” said Atieh.

The idea of online textbooks are not new to ACOT. The college currently uses a third party process but it does not allow students to download the whole book like OpenStax would. Currently students can only view it live on the internet.

OpenStax currently has more than a dozen textbooks available or coming soon for teachers and students to use at no cost. Topics range from U.S. History to Macro-Economics.

Enrollments at ACOT are held 8 times a year. To learn more about ACOT programs or for more information on retraining after a closing call (800)-804-1388 or check us out online at www.ACOT.edu .

American College of Technology is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council. ACOT is also certified by the Missouri Department of Higher Education to operate in the state of Missouri.

For Media Contact:
Lute Atieh
Tel: (816) 279-7000 Ext. 120
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.acot.edu