Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC)
ZTC means that students do not incur any costs for purchasing required course textbooks. ZTC may include open educational resources, institutionally licensed campus library materials that all students enrolled in the course have access to use, and other properly licensed and adopted materials. (SB 1359 definition) (see Resources below for ZTC Parameters)
Open Educational Resources (OER)
OER are high-quality teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license, such as a Creative Commons license, that permits their free use and repurposing by others, and may include other resources that are legally available and free of cost to students. (Hewlett)
Low-Cost (LC)
A course section that uses low-cost instructional materials, such as but not limited to, textbooks, workbooks, lab manuals, online homework, and required printouts, whose total combined cost does not exceed $50. (Recognition of Course Sections with Low-Cost INstructional Materials Options in the Laney Online Schedule of Class)
XB12, Instructional-Material-Cost
The XB12 has been added to the California Community Colleges Management Information System Data Element Dictionary. The codes, A, B, C, D, Y, are defined below and the implementation date for the new code was the summer of 2022.
A – Section has no associated instructional material
B – Section uses only no-cost digital instructional materials
C – Section has instructional material costs none of which are passed on to students
D – Section has low instructional material costs (*as defined locally)
Y – Section does not meet no-cost or low-cost instructional material criteria
Resources
How to search ZTC classes in the online class schedule? Use Laney OER Guide
Zero-Textbook-Cost Parameters by the State:
- If all assigned textbooks are optional for the section
- If all assigned textbooks are identified as Open Educational Resources (OER) textbooks
- If there are no assigned textbooks
- If the assigned textbooks (including course readers) are available online for free (i.e. through library databases), and students are NOT required to buy a physical copy (note: for course readers and online materials, faculty are responsible for adhering to copyright and accessibility requirements)
- If students DO NOT need to pay fees to access a software platform to do coursework or homework
Other considerations
- Lab materials or required supplies are not considered a textbook cost, so if a course section meets the parameters noted above but does require a materials fee – then the section would still qualify Zero-Textbook-Cost per State guidelines.
If you are uncertain, contact YiPing Wang, MLIS (yipingwang@peralta.edu)
