Penn State students can now easily navigate course options with little or no cost as textbook prices skyrocket and a majority of students worry about course material costs. LionPATH, the university’s student information system, will designate whether a course section’s required texts are free, low-cost or under $50. The new search option aims to bolster Penn State’s “access and affordability goals,” said Ann Taylor, an assistant dean in the university’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. The cost indicator brings “optimism and hope” to Nora O'Toole, Penn State’s student body president. Ms. O'Toole told the Post-Gazette she has already used the cost marker to schedule her spring semester classes.
