Reducing Textbook Cost to $0: Tidewater Community College - SPARC

"On the path to earning an associate’s degree, a typical student spends about $3,400 on books and supplies—adding up to about one-quarter of their total education expenses[1].

Solution

In August of 2013, Tidewater Community College (TCC) in Norfolk, Va., rolled out a groundbreaking degree path in business administration where all textbooks and learning materials were available to students at no cost using Open Educational Resources (OER). Students created a buzz about what they called 'Z classes'—zero books required—and the 'Z-Degree' was named.

Linda Williams, professor of business management and administration at TCC who worked with faculty members and Lumen Learning to make the transition, said it was a heavy lift to develop original digital content, but professors soon realized the advantage of customizing the material. 'It was truly a chance to create a course where the content was laser aligned to the course outcomes,' she says."