Education leaders are working to make college more affordable with online resources instead of textbooks. Using the readily available online materials is all up to the instructor, though. Textbooks are not cheap. According to a state audit, by the time a student gets their degree, the total spent on course materials can equal the cost of tuition for an additional semester. For some perspective, one semester of in-state tuition at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville costs about $6,000.
