Open Educational Resources (OER) & Textbook Equity

Why is Textbook Equity important at the UNI?

In the Fall 2023 Cost of Attendance survey (n = 1792), UNI students reported they:

• share books (39%).
• avoid purchase/rental of required texts (27%).
• change sections or avoid registering for a specific course/section due to textbook costs (23%).
• work extra hours to pay for textbooks (22%).
• have earned a poor or failing grade due to textbook costs (17%).
• have dropped a course or taken fewer courses due to textbook costs (16%).
  
  Data broken out by students' primary major is available upon request; contact Anne Marie Gruber.

Why does textbook equity matter?

Why OER?

Research has shown that using OER can lead to various benefits for students and instructors alike:

• Students in courses using OER have similar learning outcomes, with pronounced benefits for Pell-eligible, non-white, first-generation, and non-domestic college students (Colvard et al., 2018; Clinton et al., 2019; Delgado et al., 2019; Marsh et al., 2022).
• Students assigned open textbooks are more likely to report using their textbooks, using them more frequently and more often when compared with commercial textbooks (Cuttler, 2018)
• Students are more likely to stay in courses: courses with free materials have an average 29% lower withdrawal rate than those with commercial texts (Clinton & Khan, 2019; n=78,000).
• Students in courses with no-cost/low-cost materials have increased likelihood of graduation and lower time to graduation (Diaz Solodukhin et al., 2025).
• Students who enroll in multiple OER courses take more credits and have higher course completion rates (Griffiths et al, 2020; Ross et al, 2018).
• Courses implementing open pedagogy can drive student engagement, contribute to media literacy, and build students’ workforce readiness (Baran & AlZoubi, 2019; Sánchez Vera et al., 2021).
• Instructors can innovate while improving their students’ learning experiences by implementing OER in their courses (Kimmel et al., 2022).
• Students may feel an increased sense of belonging, both because they can access materials and if they can see themselves reflected in those materials (Nusbaum, 2020).
• Students may feel an improved sense of mental wellbeing because stress caused by textbook costs is eliminated (Jenkins et al., 2020).