URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Protect Course Materials Affordability and OER Innovation

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Senate Labor-HHS Education Appropriations bill includes troubling language in an Open Textbook Grant Pilot that would prohibit course materials fees for classes that incorporate free Open Educational Resources (OER) into the required curriculum, even if those courses also necessitate the use of commercial textbooks and adaptive courseware offered through low-cost Affordable Access programs.

As you know, many institutions use tuition-based, fee-based, and charge-based access programs to reduce course materials costs through scale. Affordable Access programs run by college libraries and bookstores often complement free open textbook initiatives, working together to further reduce costs for students, and faculty routinely embrace the use of blended learning materials.

However, the Senate Appropriations language effectively bans the use of integrated, low-cost blended learning solutions in the pilot and will likely have the opposite intended effect by pushing faculty away from continued use of and investment in OER. It will also mean institutions that have affordable access programs such as first day or tuition and fee based school-wide rental programs would no longer be eligible to compete for the the Open Textbook pilot grants or receive pilot grant funds from state agencies and consortium grantees.

Take Action:

We must not allow Congress to undermine coordinated efforts that are already improving access, reducing costs, and building more sustainable OER programs. Please take a moment to take the following actions:

Send a pre-written email to your Representative and Senators in Washington urging them to remove the problematic language in the final Appropriations bill; and/or
Contact your House and Senate offices directly by phone and request that they correct the misguided language in the Senate Appropriations bill. You can find the contact information and a script by filling out your information and clicking the phone icon .

Your feedback and involvement is essential to prevent Congress from passing legislation that would not only harm Affordable Access textbook programs, but also inhibit innovation, academic freedom, and ultimately increase costs for students.

Current Actions

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Protect Course Materials Affordability and OER Innovation