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Open Educational Resources

Students

How often do you think about your college debt? How often do you think about the cost of textbooks and other materials for your classes? Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to buy textbooks? Imagine all the money you would save and what you could do with that money. Did you know there are many classes at SU that don't make you buy a textbook? Would you like to find out more? Scroll down.

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Zero-cost
& Low-cost

Better than the lending library in your neighborhood, right now, you can go into GullNet and find courses whose course materials are either zero-cost (OER) or low-cost (under $50).

How to Find

Follow these simple steps to reveal all the zero-cost and/or low-cost courses available at SU.

  1. Log into GullNet, click on Enrollment.
  2. Select the term for the courses you want.
  3. Scroll down and click on Course Attribute. Select Affordable Course Materials.
  4. Click the Course Attribute Value drop-down and Select Free or Low Cost materials. Click search.
  5. Click on each course to learn more.
  6. Ask your Academic Advisor for help if needed.
affordable course materials
Open as PDF

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Experts in OER use issued a challenge to find the cost savings to students who take courses with free materials using OER
  • The researchers used "a nationally-representative sample of institutions . . . using the U.S. Department of Education’s IPEDS database of postsecondary institutions."
  • They also "focused only on courses with existing OER options," then narrowed it down to a list of twenty common courses.
  • Using these criteria, they estimated the cost savings to students every time they took a course using only OER materials was $116.94 per course.
  • Taking 4-5 courses per semester, you would be saving $467.76-$584.70.
  • Taking 10 courses per year would save a student on average, $1,169.40 per year, and over four years, would save a student $4,677.60.
  • Courses that use OER have access to the latest research providing more equitable access to information for all students.
  • So what are you waiting for? Use the infographic to find OER courses so you won't have to pay for books.​
  • Contact your Academic Advisor if you need help finding zero-cost or low-cost courses.
    - For more information read the full article, “A New Method for Estimating OER Savings".