Aims Community College Free to Students initiative saves money on textbooks

GREELEY, CO – MARCH 25: A sign greets drivers at the entrance to Ames Community College on 20th Street in Greeley on March 25, 2021. (Alex McIntyre/Staff Photographer)

Over the past five years, Ames Community College has adopted a program that saves students more than $1.5 million in textbook costs by taking advantage of educational materials available to educators and students, according to a news release from the college.

The university’s student-free efforts include the use and development of open educational resources (OER). OER can reduce inequalities in education by providing all students with access to high-quality educational materials.

A 2019 US PIRG Education Foundation survey found that 63% of students skipped purchasing textbooks. The same survey found that 90% of students were worried that not having books would negatively impact their grades. Beyond cost, there are other barriers to students obtaining materials on the first day of class, such as books being out of stock at publishers and bookstores.

Aims offers approximately 60 classes each semester that utilize OER. Some courses don’t require outside textbooks, and others have low-cost options under $30. For courses that require traditional textbooks, students can check out textbooks of their choice for free at the Learning Commons at each of Aims’ four campuses. The university anticipates that as more departments and departments adopt OER, the number of options for students will increase.

Doug Strauss, program director and leader of the Learning Commons, said: “We are working to help faculty and staff not only save money, but also support students in addressing the equity challenges they face. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done.” Member of the university’s open educational resource implementation team.

For more information about the Aims Free-to-Student (F2S) initiative, please visit: Purpose.co/Free Textbook.

The F2S initiative grew from initial success with OER adoption by a small number of instructors and became part of the Aims 2018-2023 Strategic Plan. The goal set in the strategic plan was to increase the use of OER by 1% year-over-year over his five-year period, which the university achieved.

Departments such as early childhood education have committed to using only OER materials in most courses. The team has compiled an extensive collection of authoritative videos, magazine articles, and blogs.

“The textbooks cover a wide range of things, so we can focus on things that are relevant to the world,” said early childhood education instructor Laura Killen Wing.