Cerro Coso students are getting some help with the pricey cost of textbooks. The college has received a $22,000 grant from the California College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 (AB 798) to save students money by empowering professors to adopt high quality, free, and open educational resources (OER) for course materials.

The high cost of textbooks has become a serious obstacle to the affordability of a college education. The average community college student pays $1,300 annually for textbooks. That represents about 40% of the total cost to attend a California community college. Looking for ways to help ease the sting of high textbook expenses, Cerro Coso Librarian Sharlene Paxton and English Professor Melanie Jeffrey led the charge to apply for the grant. With the support of students, faculty, and administrators they created and submitted a plan that describes the faculty’s commitment and readiness to effectively use grant funds to support the adoption of OERs. The grant will allow faculty to adopt OERs for 22 courses across disciplines at the college to alleviate some of the economic burden textbooks present students.