The California Community Colleges represent the largest system of U.S. higher education serving 2.1 million students at 116 colleges annually. $5 million in state funding was allocated in 2017 to launch the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree initiative with the primary goal of increasing student success through reducing cost barriers. It would enable 23 colleges to develop 34 degree or certificate pathways where textbook costs had been completely eliminated through the use of OER or materials that were zero cost to students.
ZTCD Phase 1 & 2, Kelsey Smith, West Hills College Lemoore, CC BY
There were two phases to the ZTC Degree initiative. The first phase allocated up to $35,000 to colleges for planning a ZTC degree or certificate pathway and up to $150,000 for colleges to implement a ZTC degree or certificate pathway. The grantees with the planning grants used the funds on such things as, research, professional development, meetings, and other resources and activities to discuss and prepare for the full implementation of a ZTC degree or certificate. Half of the colleges with the planning grants went on to phase two of the grant program, which focused on the development and implementation of ZTC degrees or certificates.
Technical assistance to support grantee colleges in their development and evaluation was provided by College of the Canyons, West Hills College Lemoore, and the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) through a community of practice approach. The community of practice included a dedicated email list, monthly webinars, quarterly workshops, evaluation support, creative commons certification, and twice-yearly statewide summits with student panels, chancellor’s office leadership, California public higher education leaders, and national OER speakers.
In addition, the Equity Champions program was implemented to help grantee colleges to sustain and link their ZTC degree work with other strategic student success initiatives including student equity & achievement, guided pathways, and degree completion. Each Equity Champion completed a customized online course to learn how to advocate for sustaining the ZTC degree programs. In addition, they provided two professional development workshops on their campuses to create greater awareness of the impact on students and to advocate for additional funding.
The grant program concluded in 2019 and it is anticipated that the 23 community colleges produced 34 Zero Textbook Cost degrees or certificates, saving 23,373 students approximately $42,912,828 in textbook costs resulting in an 858% ROI (return on investment) from the original $5 million invested by the CA Community College Chancellor’s Office.
Research
ZTC Degree grantee colleges were requested to submit final grades received in courses where instructors both used OER or zero cost materials and other instructors used traditional textbooks. Increased success rates were observed for all students in classes using OER or zero cost materials, especially for minorities and students receiving Pell grants. The table below shows the results from 179,050 letter grades.
| Grades for All Students | +3.1% |
| Grades for Female Students | +3.2% |
| Grades for Minority Students | +3.1% |
| Grades for Pell Recipients | +7.6% |
| Success Rates | +2.5% |
| Grades of A | +7.3% |
| Grades of D | -15.6% |
| Grades of F | -11.2% |
Resources
As part of the grant requirements, the grantee colleges uploaded their ZTC Degree course materials to the Vision Resource Center, a professional development site for California Community College employees, and are available to anybody with a California Community College email address. These materials will soon be discoverable in Cool4Ed, the California Open Online Library for Higher Education, as well.
The Zero Textbook Cost Pathways: OER & Equity online course was created during the grant program to provide in-depth training to faculty and staff on how OER and ZTC degrees can increase student equity and achievement.