Ducks Give '22

You can help make education more affordable for students through the UO’s Open Educational Resources (OER) program at the UO Libraries. Open Educational Resources (OER) are free and openly licensed course materials, such as free textbooks, that can help ensure that all students, regardless of their financial situation, have free access to required course materials on the first day of class.

Cheaper course materials help students be more successful.

Over the past several years, students and educators have watched with concern as the cost of educational materials has risen dramatically. According to an NBC News study, textbook costs have increased more than 1,000% since 1977, outpacing the cost of medical care, new homes, and the consumer price index.

Expensive course materials can be detrimental to students as they may struggle to keep up in classes, and students may be more likely to drop out when they cannot readily access textbook material. Your gift to support OER will

• Reduce out-of-pocket costs for students 
• Increase student progression and retention
• Foster equitable educational outcomes, especially for students from underserved communities and those from families of limited means. 

Changing one typical course from a commercial textbook to an open textbook costs $500, and saves students $2,000 every time the course runs. These savings accumulate dramatically for frequently-offered large courses. 

Your gift will give students access to more affordable course materials, ultimately making them more successful at the UO. Please give today.

How does OER work?

With your support, Library faculty will help teaching faculty across colleges and disciplines find, evaluate, and select no- or low-cost textbooks when they are available, or in cases where no such text exists, author and publish a new textbook that students across the UO, the nation, and the world can equally benefit from. 

All funds raised will go towards mini-grants for faculty to convert their courses from textbook to OER format, staff time to administer the mini-grants program, as well as licensing costs for our online publishing platform. Since 2019, our existing OER program efforts have converted 5.65% of UO's course sections to low- or no-cost, saving our students over $2.5 million in out-of-pocket costs so far. 

Learn more about our OER efforts and textbook affordability at the UO – and thank you for giving generously!