A paywall for grades or a digitized learning service?
It’s an all-too-familiar scene for some: enrolling in a half-year course and looking at the syllabus only to realize the course requires a mandatory subscription to a third-party learning service, constituting 25 percent of the grade. These mandatory third-party services, also known as “microtransactions,” are a common practice by university professors, and are criticized by students for their lack of transparency and deemed “unethical”. While it is not listed in the course description, professors require students to purchase mandatory third-party learning services in order to complete coursework such as quizzes, assignments, and class participation.
University policies
Top Hat, Mindtap, and McGraw Hill CONNECT are a few of the most common third-party services at UofT. Mindtap, owned by Cengage, an online textbook publishing company, charges students approximately $60 for the service which includes an e-book. Top Hat, most commonly used in life sciences and engineering courses, charges around $26 per term or $38 a year, depending on the course. CONNECT charges $99.
While the University does not have an official policy against the use of microtransactions, it caps the price for subscriptions at $65 per half-course. Students who are taking up to 5.0 FCE can be charged upwards of $650. However, if the subscription exceeds the maximum $65, alternative arrangements need to be made.
Students speak out
In early 2019, students took to UofT’s subreddit to shed light on the issue of microtransactions. Many users talked of the already high tuition fees coupled with necessary expenses such as textbooks. Some compared the practice to creating a paywall for grades; charging students fees for services unaffiliated with the university and comparing common features such as taking quizzes to that offered in Quercus.
In response to fighting microtransactions, the UTSU launched the Microtransactions Access Program in collaboration with Top Hat in September of last year. The program provides financial aid to students who are burdened by the costs of microtransactions which are not formally included in tuition or ancillary fees. A list of courses requiring the use of third-party services was also posted.
