You may have noticed that UI is now offering some e-Textbooks through ICON Direct; to learn more about this opportunity, visit this site: https://its.uiowa.edu/support/article/112436. 

E-Textbooks can include workbooks, interactive discussions, and other related study tools that students might find enhance their learning.

The UI Library offers many fine e-Books and related resources that are free and may be suitable for some undergraduate courses:  https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eresources/e-books/.

Below is one such resource, Open Book Publishers, from the above UI list:

"OBP books are published in hardback, paperback, pdf and ebook editions, but they also include a free online edition that can be read via their website, downloaded, reused or embedded anywhere. Founded in 2008 by a small group of academics at the University of Cambridge, they have grown into an international network of scholars who believe that it is time for academic publishing to become fairer, faster and more accessible."

The use of e-Books and e-Textbooks may be one way to help students to better afford their UI education.

Thank you for exploring this opportunity.