Students who are taking or are interested in Psychology classes on campus can now download a free textbook.

Instead of paying $152 for a physical textbook, students can download a file from openstax.org and have access to the information required for class, and also be able to view psychology-related clips from the same file.

The online textbook is one of many Open Educational Resources, which are free for anyone to access.

Dr. Donald Orso, a psychology professor, brought the idea to the college after participating in a committee that found openstax.org as the best website to provide the textbook.

“For the students, [a benefit is] they don’t have to lug around a textbook,” Orso said. “They could simply just read [the textbook] off of their phone.”

One of the advantages to downloading the free textbook, according to Orso, are the textbooks are updated electronically when a new edition of the same book is put out, so there is no need for a student to go and find the latest edition.

To date, at least $155 million has been saved by students and schools around the country on textbooks, according to a PowerPoint of data from openstax.org provided by Dr. Orso.

Orso also said the textbook will save AACC students over $1 million in Intro to Psychology textbooks in the next 4-5 years.

“What I care most about are the students at Anne Arundel [Community College,]” said Orso. “I want them to be taken care of.”

The website also offers 33 different textbooks with subject matter regarding Anatomy & Physiology, Statistics, and many others.

Orso said the required Intro to Psychology textbook for the Fall 2017 semester will be the openstax.org online textbook.