Last month, our own Mike Hale wrote about course-fee models as the way to ensure all college students had their required course materials on or before the first day of classes. As he mentioned, this model, powered by VitalSource Access®, has been implemented by more than 400 colleges and universities throughout the United States, saving students in excess of $100 million over the past 12 months.

One of those schools is Hinds (Miss.) Community College. Hinds, at approximately 10,000 students in degree-granting programs, is the third largest institution of higher education in Mississippi and serves a diverse population. Approximately 55 percent of Hinds’ students are African American and, of its total enrollment, roughly 80 percent receive full Pell Grant federal financial aid. In the fall of 2014, Hinds, like many other schools throughout the country, was facing a growing student success and retention problem partially stemming from a lack of access to affordable course materials on day one, a growing online student population, and a revamp of its entire digital learning ecosystem.

Looking for a solution, Hinds chose VitalSource – from numerous ed-tech companies evaluated – as its exclusive eTextbook partner for its “Instant Access” initiative. After a six-course pilot in the spring of 2015, students in more than 900 sections now have guaranteed access to required course materials the day they log into the school’s learning management system, Canvas.

With the growing record of success of our VitalSource Access solution on their campus (and off campus with their growing online program), we have collaborated with Hinds Community College to tell their story of transformation – a transformation that is empowering student achievement, while saving money for a most vulnerable population.

We look forward to telling this story in the coming weeks and months and hope you will take time to learn more about this remarkable school, its committed students and its dedicated faculty and staff and how they are transforming learning!