UAA Textbook Affordability

The cost of textbooks and course materials plays a major role in the cost of a college education, and the high cost of these materials directly undermines student success, access, and affordability. While low-cost alternatives to many textbooks exist, adopting affordable course materials can be challenging for faculty. Worse, students may feel powerless to advocate for affordable textbooks if they believe they have no influence in the adoption of course materials.

One way to reduce the out-of-pocket cost for students is to adopt free or low-cost textbooks and course materials. Adopting free-to-access materials, also known as Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course materials, has been demonstrated to improve student success. When students have access to their materials from the first day of class, grades improve and withdrawal rates decrease, especially for those students traditionally underrepresented in higher education (Colvard et al., 2018). Students who take ZTC courses also take more credits, allowing them to move toward graduation faster, and are more likely to complete their degree programs (Fischer, et al., 2015; Zhao, et al., 2020; Crossfield & Ryan, 2022; Griffiths, et al., 2022).

From 2015-2025, UAA Textbook Affordability (a grassroots initiative under the leadership of D'Arcy Hutchings, previously in collaboration with Veronica Howard and Heather Nice) worked to increase the use of open educational resources and ZTC materials at UAA and beyond. The office of the UAA Vice Provost for Student Success became a partner over time. The links below will direct you to current and past UAA Textbook Affordability programs and support.

Note: Due to a recent change in D'Arcy Hutchings' position, the Consortium Library's UAA Textbook Affordability work is in a period of transition with minimal support provided. For now, you may still reach out to D'Arcy (see the Contact Me box on this page) with questions and issues.

Faculty and Staff can:

• Explore the guide to getting started with finding open educational resources (OER)
• Learn about marking your courses as Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) or Low Textbook Cost (LTC) in the course registration system (proposed, advocated for, and supported by UAA Textbook Affordability; a collaboration with the office of Vice Provost for Student Success)
• Consider creating or modifying OER

Students can:

• Learn how to find courses with Zero Textbook Costs (ZTC) or Low Textbook Costs (LTC) in the course registration system (proposed, advocated for, and supported by UAA Textbook Affordability leaders; a collaboration with the office of Vice Provost for Student Success)
• Explore the Creative Commons Licensing for Students

Legacy programs developed and run by UAA Textbook Affordability include:

• Consortium Library Affordable Course Materials Award for faculty, in collaboration with Library Advisory Committee
• Textbook Affordability Student Ambassadors
• Alaska Open Education Initiative federal grant project
• Textbook Affordability Fellows
• Textbook Affordability and Open Education Mini-Grant (TAM), which funded OER/ZTC adoption, creation, and adaptation projects
• OER/ZTC Certificate program for self-guided, self-paced professional development
• Student Textbook Affordability Club