Citrus College offers textbook alternatives to decrease student costs

By Anthony Contreras, Ed.D., Citrus College Governing Board Member

With rising higher education expenses and inflation impacting the cost of living, many students are finding it increasingly difficult to pursue their academic goals. In an effort to remove one of the financial obstacles facing students, Citrus College faculty members have begun using open educational resources/zero textbook cost (OER/ZTC) options in their classrooms.

In fact, these alternatives to traditional textbooks saved students an estimated $479,808 during the fall 2023 semester alone.

According to the California Education Code, OER/ZTCs are defined as "high-quality teaching, learning and research resources" that reside in the public domain, have been released under intellectual property licenses that permit free use, or are legally available and free of cost for students. OER/ZTCs include textbooks, faculty-created content, streaming videos and tests, among other items.

Although Citrus College faculty have been using OER and other ZTC options to teach their courses for years, it wasn't formally tracked until 2018. At that time, Senate Bill 1359 was signed into legislation, which required all colleges to clearly identify zero-cost courses. In addition, the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges' (ASCCC) Open Educational Resources Initiative created OER liaison positions to facilitate OER-related communication between colleges and the ASCCC, as well as promote the use of OER on campuses.

Over the years, the use of OER at Citrus College has grown exponentially. Between the fall 2022 semester and the fall 2023 semester, the number of courses marked "OER" increased by 50.8%. Additionally, nearly 4,900 students enrolled in ZTC sections last semester.

Citrus College's OER/ZTC offerings are expected to expand even more in the years ahead. College personnel have worked to identify degree programs that were the closest to being 100% ZTC. As a result, plans for the first full ZTC associate degree for transfer pathways are currently underway. The first phase will involve the college's history and sociology transfer degrees, which are expected to be implemented by fall 2025.

According to Sarah Bosler, public services librarian at Citrus College and former OER liaison for the Citrus College Academic Senate, providing students with the opportunity to earn a degree without having to purchase textbooks will be beneficial.

"Last year, a survey revealed that 84% of our students decided against buying or renting a textbook because of cost, while 87% found that the cost of textbooks impacted their course selection," Bosler said. "Not only do these OER/ZTC courses save students money that they can use for things like food and housing, they also make it easier for students to be prepared for class on day one."

In addition to saving money and decreasing stress, OER/ZTC courses have other benefits. These include receiving access to relevant and current content, improved accessibility, and increased equity.

As the Azusa area's representative on the Citrus Community College District Board of Trustees, I am proud of the work Citrus College has done to implement open educational resources in its classrooms. I also look forward to the introduction of the first full OER/ZTC transfer degree pathways. With the cost of textbooks often preventing students from pursuing their higher education goals, these efforts are helping open the door to academic success.