Opinion: LBCC’s switch from textbook costs to Open Educational Resources can help students with financial barriers

Textbook costs should not decide whether a Long Beach City College student is prepared on the first day of class. LBCC should move toward a full school-wide change from expensive traditional textbooks to Open Educational Resources (OER), because the current textbook system adds another financial barrier for students who are already paying for tuition, transportation, food, housing, and other basic needs. 

Open Educational Resource materials can include peer-reviewed open textbooks, instructional videos, and Creative Commons-licensed materials that are free and available for faculty to add to course sites.

According to LBCC’s own cost of attendance estimate, books and supplies are listed at $1,305 for the 2026-27 aid year, which is almost as much as California resident tuition and fees at $1,564. 

For community college students, that is not a small extra cost. That is money that could be used for gas, groceries, rent, childcare or staying enrolled for another semester.

The problem is that textbook affordability is still treated like an individual student issue instead of a college-wide student success issue. LBCC already offers some support, including library course reserves with free textbooks for hundreds of courses, bookstore rentals, used books, digital options, and textbook loans for student veterans. 

Those resources matter, but they do not fully solve the issue because students still have to hope their specific book is available, affordable, or not already checked out. A student should not have to wait in line, search multiple websites or delay homework because a required book costs too much.

This is why LBCC should make OER and Zero Textbook Cost courses a bigger priority. 

LBCC already says it is committed to reducing the financial burden on students through OER. The college has also already worked on promoting OER and low textbook cost courses. 

An LBCC progress report listed OER student savings increasing from $300,000 annually to $600,000 annually. It is something LBCC has already started, and it should now expand.

The change would also fit with what is happening across California community colleges. The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office says the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) program is meant to reduce the overall cost of education and decrease the time it takes students to complete degrees. 

The state also invested $115 million in one-time funding for ZTC degree grants, and beginning in spring 2026, every college will have access to LibreTexts, a statewide platform for discovering, adapting, authoring and delivering open instructional materials. In other words, LBCC would not be making this change alone. It would be following a statewide direction that is already focused on affordability.

OER also helps students academically because they can access the course material right away. 

When students cannot afford a textbook, they may fall behind before the semester even starts. Student PIRGs reports that undergraduate students are often expected to budget around $1,200 to $1,300 each year for textbooks and supplies, which can force students to work longer hours or make choices that hurt their academic success. 

OER removes that delay by making the material available on day one, which is especially important for students taking full-time schedules, working jobs, or supporting families.

Some people may argue that traditional textbooks are higher quality or easier for professors to use. 

That concern should be taken seriously, but it should not stop progress. The solution is not to force every professor to switch overnight. 

LBCC should create a realistic campus-wide plan that starts with high-enrollment general education courses, such as English, math, communication studies, psychology, history and science survey classes. These are the classes that affect the most students, so changing them first would create the biggest savings.

LBCC should also give faculty more support to redesign their courses around OER. The college already has an OER subcommittee that reviews OER grant applications, evaluates materials for course level and accessibility, reviews open resources, and makes recommendations to the Curriculum Committee. 

That group should be given stronger visibility and more funding so that faculty are not expected to do extra work without support. Faculty need paid training, release time, shared course shells, and department-level help to make sure the materials are accurate, accessible, and useful.

Another solution is to make ZTC classes easier for students to find. 

LBCC has already listed a goal to flag Zero Textbook Cost sections in the class schedule. That should be expanded and promoted more clearly during registration. Students should be able to search for ZTC classes as easily as they search for online, hybrid, or in-person classes.

LBCC should also create a clear goal: every degree pathway should have a Zero Textbook Cost option whenever possible.  

According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, ZTC pathways are designed so students can complete an entire program within two years without paying for textbooks. 

LBCC could follow this model by expanding ZTC pathways in transfer degrees and career technical education programs. This would not only save students money but also make the college more attractive to future students who are comparing costs.

A full move toward OER is not just about replacing books with free PDFs, it is about making education more fair. 

Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative found that students in OER courses saved money, had unrestricted access to materials, and students taking multiple OER courses earned more credits than similar students who took no OER courses. 

LBCC has already taken steps in the right direction, but now it should treat OER as a school-wide priority instead of an optional extra. 

The college should expand ZTC sections, support faculty, improve class schedule labels, build full ZTC degree pathways, and continue offering low-cost print options for students who prefer physical books. 

Textbooks should help students learn, not become another reason they fall behind. 

Concerns about uncompensated labor are extremely common among college faculty creating OER.

Because OERs are freely shared, authors face valid fears that their hundreds of hours of intellectual property, writing, and formatting will be expropriated without ongoing royalties or fair compensation. 

Although it is different from traditional publishing. Instead of earning ongoing royalties from student sales, authors creating or adapting OER materials for Long Beach City College are typically paid upfront through institutional stipends, grants (like state ZTC grants), or course re-assignment time. 

If LBCC truly wants to reduce barriers and support student success, then Open Educational Resources should become the standard, not the exception.