University of California, Davis
IN-41: Textbook Affordability

UC Davis hosts several textbook projects. The AB540 and Undocumented Student Center hosts a Lending Library to help alleviate some of the cost undocumented students and allies have to pay in the university setting. The library currently has over 200 books available to check out in a variety of subjects. Books can be checked out for a whole quarter, a day, or a couple of hours.

The LibreTexts project (formerly known as Chem Wiki) is an open source textbook project developed at UC Davis, and provides free, peer-reviewed textbooks and course materials online under an open license. Students can download the texts for free and professors can customize the materials for their courses, such as by rearranging the sequence of information. The project features textbooks related to STEM fields such as chemistry, biology, physics, statistics, mathematics, psychology, and neuroscience.

Additionally, the UC Davis Bookstore hosts the UC Davis Inclusive Access program, a method of providing access to digital course content when instructors are using interactive courseware platforms or e-books in place of printed text. Inclusive Access is the system used to provide the access and billing when an instructor uses digital content in their course. Access is provided electronically before the first day of class, and the discounted access cost is billed to the student’s financial aid account after the 10th day of instruction. The program allows the campus to reduce student course materials costs in comparison to traditional print text, and ensures that every student has easy access to the content by the first day of class. The program offers faculty no restraint on academic freedom (instructors choose the content); ability to manage content and even add their own in some platforms; students can begin online homework assignments on the first day of class; ability to integrate in the campus Learning Management System for single sign-on access and grade-book integration; instructor analytics on student engagement and success; and peer to peer online access help desk staff by UC Davis students.

A new Equitable Access program, piloting in Fall 2020, will give students digital access to course materials for a quarterly flat fee payable with financial aid. The program cost is tentatively set at $199 and aims to address inequity from variable textbook costs. Equitable Access will be available to all undergraduates, and the program’s quarterly fee model emulates the campus bussing system fees, which all students pay. Students who regularly pay more, such as those buying high-cost STEM books, would spend less. Equitable Access does have an opt-out option.

In 2012, the California State Legislature directed the public higher education systems in the state to create an online library with open educational resources and textbooks in order to increase faculty adoption of high quality, affordable or free materials to save students money.

The California Open Educational Resources (OER) Council is a collaboration among University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC). The California OER Council facilitates review of textbooks for inclusion in the new California Open Source Digital Library (COOL4Ed).

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AB540 and Undocumented Student Center Lending Library: https://undocumented.ucdavis.edu/resources/lending-library

LibreTexts page: https://libretexts.org/

Article about LibreTexts: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/10/02/department-education-awards-pilot-oer-grant-uc-davis-open

Article about UC Davis Chem Wiki: https://lettersandscience.ucdavis.edu/news/free-textbook-effort-expands-600000-grant

UC Davis Inclusive Access Program: https://ucdavisstores.com/inclusiveaccess

Equitable Access Program: https://ucdavisstores.com/equitableaccess

Article about Equitable Access Program: https://magazine.ucdavis.edu/all-access/

Cool4Ed: http://coolfored.org/about.html