CUNY CUTTING COST OF TEXTBOOKS THROUGH USE OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES – CUNY Newswire

"Chancellor James B. Milliken announced that The City University of New York will slash the cost of textbooks for the highest-demand classes through the use of Open Educational Resources, or OER, freely available, high-quality books and other materials that can be downloaded, edited and shared. OER not only saves students’ money, it also helps them do better in school, according to a growing body of research.

Almost half of CUNY’s students come from households with less than $20,000 of income. Book costs totaling as much as $1,200 a year can be prohibitive for them. When he signed legislation in April enacting the Excelsior Scholarship, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced an $8 million OER allocation to be split equally between CUNY and the State University of New York. CUNY and SUNY are collaborating on strategies to convert commonly used textbooks to OER."