About CAopenEd

The soaring cost of college course materials have been well documented. Since the 1980s, textbook prices have risen nearly 1,000% – far outpacing increases in tuition, inflation, housing, and even medical expenses. As a result, the average undergraduate student today spends $1,200-$1,300 per year on textbooks and supplies alone, a sum that equates to 72% of total tuition and fees at an average two-year institution, and 26% of total tuition and fees at an average public four-year institution.

Such exorbitant textbook costs have shown to negatively impact student grades, buy-in, accessibility, enrollment, study habits, first-day access, time-to-graduation rates, and the list goes on.

The negative impact of textbook costs has shown to be even more severe for historically underserved college students, thus, revealing textbook affordability as a social justice issue. Racial/ethnic minorities, low-income students, and first-generation colleges students report higher levels of stress due to textbook costs, as compared to their peers. Historically underserved students are also less likely to purchase their required course materials, and less likely to have their materials on the first day of class due to cost. In addition, they are more likely to avoid taking a class, more likely to drop a class, and more likely to fail a class due to textbook costs – three factors that directly affect academic success, time-to-graduation rates, and student loan debt beyond graduation.

The negative impact of textbook costs has shown to be even more severe for historically underserved college students, thus, revealing textbook affordability as a social justice issue. Racial/ethnic minorities, low-income students, and first-generation colleges students report higher levels of stress due to textbook costs, as compared to their peers. Historically underserved students are also less likely to purchase their required course materials, and less likely to have their materials on the first day of class due to cost. In addition, they are more likely to avoid taking a class, more likely to drop a class, and more likely to fail a class due to textbook costs – three factors that directly affect academic success, time-to-graduation rates, and student loan debt beyond graduation.

In light of soaring textbook costs and their negative impact on today’s college students, California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) has emerged as a national leader in textbook affordability through its “OpenCI” initiative. As the newest university in the CSU system, CSUCI’s total enrollment is approximately 7,000 students. Since launching on CSUCI’s campus in 2016, however, OpenCI has benefited more than 44,000 student enrollments, saved its student body well over $5 million dollars, and introduced the first 3 zero-textbook-cost undergraduate majors (aka, “Z-Majors”) in the entire CSU system – and perhaps the entire nation.

Press Links

• 8/18/21 - Michelson Press Release This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 5/21/20 - California State Student Association Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 8/28/19 - EdSource Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 2/7/19 - Educause Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 7/7/18 - Ventura County Star Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 7/1/18 - CSUCI News Room Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 7/6/18 - Camarillo Acorn Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 7/1/18 - NPR Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• 6/18/18 - CSUCI News Room Article This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.

Thanks to generous support from the Michelson 20MM Foundation This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. and CSU’s Affordable Learning Solutions, The California Alliance for Open Education (CAopenEd) was established to help scale the unprecedented success of CSUCI’s OpenCI initiative to a larger, external audience. In other words, CAopenEd is paying it forward by helping others pay less for their required course materials.

CAopenEd’s mission is to, “Equip campus leaders and administrators with the training, guidance, and resources they need to reduce course material costs and increase student success.” To fulfill this mission, CAopenEd provides university leaders and administrators with practical resources in the three areas of (1) Z-Major Pathways, (2) Campus Promotion, and (3) Community Outreach.

In 2021, CAopenEd also launched the first California Open Education Research Consortium by engaging campus leaders from across the entire higher education system: University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges. The inaugural cohort of CAopenEd Research Fellows are currently collaborating to develop empirically-informed best practices on open pedagogy, university policies/procedures, and statewide legislative decisions.

CAopenEd’s future plans include Z-Major certifications, award programs, digital badges, quarterly whitepapers, and more!