This post reports on the statewide estimated student savings represented by Oregon’s no-cost/low-cost course designation for the 2017-19 biennium. Each college and university reports savings data using the method that works best for their own local campus environment. This means that the people who created the data make the case for how they use it. Each institution shows their work by sharing their method so that the aggregated estimate can be understood as a sum of differentiated components. More information on this approach to OER savings estimates can be found in the post Support for a Local Approach to Statewide OER Data Collection.

Statewide Savings Estimate

Out of Oregon’s 24 public colleges and universities, 19 were able to provide data for this report: 15 colleges and 4 universities. Two colleges and three universities did not participate, either because they have not yet implemented the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation, or because the data was not available in time.

Student enrollment is represented by 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount data provided by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission Office of Research and Data. Fall, fourth week enrollment is the data that is provided by both colleges and universities; using headcount rather than full-time equivalent shows how many individual students may see impact from no-cost/low-cost courses.

• 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for the participating institutions: 188,713
• 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for all Oregon colleges and universities: 215,652

In round numbers, 4/5 of Oregon’s colleges and universities shared data for this report, representing nearly 90% of students in the state. The courses with the no-cost and low-cost designation in the schedule at these institutions are estimated to have saved over 375,000 students (by headcount) in 21,000 course sections approximately $34 million in two academic years. At the reporting institutions, approximately 12% of all courses were designated no-cost or low-cost.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	542	7,683	$693,370	9395	5.77
Fall 2017	2394	49,639	$4,395,484	24912	9.61
Winter 2018	2643	49,330	$4,310,866	24990	10.58
Spring 2018	3487	54,002	$5,391,992	25255	13.81
Summer 2018	1207	16588	1890564.67	14565	8.29
Fall 2018	3252	55730	5396223.22	25216	12.90
Winter 2019	4062	70634	6038350.73	25349	16.02
Spring 2019	3932	70575	5547479.69	26036	15.10
Total	21914	379,348	$34,178,056	178815	12.26

Last spring, a pilot data collection project found that with 1/3 of Oregon’s colleges and universities sharing data, representing about 15% of fall headcount enrollment, courses with the no-cost and low-cost designation in the schedule were estimated to have saved over 30,000 students (by headcount) in 2,000 course sections approximately $3 million in one academic year. I asked:

Does this mean that if all 24 colleges and universities reported, then the estimated savings represented by courses with the no-cost/low-cost designation would be $20M? In my opinion, we don’t have enough information to make this claim.

With more data now available, it is possible to say with more confidence that if all 24 colleges and universities participated, the estimated savings represented by courses with the no-cost/low-cost designation could be as high as $40 million for the biennium, or about $20 million per year. In other words, last year’s pilot sample was representative.

Local methods

In the post Estimating student savings from no-cost/low-cost course materials, I discussed approaches to tracking student savings data and shared templates that can be used or modified for this purpose. It is important to collect and share this data because it communicates the effectiveness of the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation and also shows the impact that faculty choices have on students.

The followup post, Estimated 2017-18 Student Savings in No-Cost/Low-Cost Courses, asks the question: What is the estimated student savings represented by the statewide no-cost/low-cost schedule designation mandated by Oregon’s HB 2871? I piloted a method of answering this research question in which each campus estimates student savings using the method that is the best fit for them. The resulting statewide estimate aggregates the data reported irrespective of method; institutional information was included that clarifies which method was used at each participating college or university.

Savings estimates will always be just that – an estimate. In part, this is because student behavior is so varied: some buy used, rent, unbundle, share, sell back, order overseas, pirate, or skip a purchase altogether, and pricing for every option can change from one day to the next. That said, a common theme among reporting institutions is that they would like to have more accurate and timely information from faculty on course materials adoptions. Knowing what is used would enable a clearer picture of expected costs and savings.

Per Institution Breakdown

The statewide savings estimate combines data collected via various methods, reflecting local needs and decision-making at each campus. The sections below show how each reporting institution arrived at their savings numbers.

Blue Mountain Community College

Blue Mountain Community College provided a spreadsheet that aggregates savings for the 2017-18 academic year. Savings estimates are broken out per quarter for the 2018-19 academic year. BMCC used $100 as the savings estimate for no-cost courses, and $75 as the savings estimate for low-cost courses. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Blue Mountain Community College was 2,442.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017-Spring 2018	395	5,167	$513,725	1652	23.91
Summer 2018	27	403	$40,300	83	32.53
Fall 2018	101	1480	$140,530.56	420	24.05
Winter 2019	152	1768	$171,315.00	413	36.80
Spring 2019	101	1143	$130,585	427	23.65
Total	776	9,961	$996,456	2995	25.91

Central Oregon Community College

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Central Oregon Community College provided a spreadsheet with 4th week enrollment numbers for courses with low-cost or no-cost materials. COCC used $100 as the savings estimate for no-cost courses, and $60 as the savings estimate for low-cost courses (because their low-cost threshold is $40). The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Central Oregon Community College was 7,254.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Fall 2017	247	3,645	$329,020	908	27.20
Winter 2018	205	3,079	$265,740	844	24.29
Spring 2018	321	4,122	$369,600	838	38.31
Summer 2018	92	977	88780	235	39.15
Fall 2018	290	4153	368580	847	34.24
Winter 2019	221	3080	281360	817	27.05
Spring 2019	312	4396	398480	794	39.29
Total	1688	23,452	$2,101,560	5283	31.95

Clackamas Community College

We started by looking at LCT (no-cost and low-cost) designated sections within each term since we implemented the LCT effort. For each course we pulled the lowest cost option for all the LCT designated sections in the term and then calculated the average lowest cost option for all the LCT sections of each course in that term. We then looked back to the most recent pre-LCT term and calculated the same average lowest cost per course at that time. We averaged per course in part to aid in comparison, as we can’t always directly compare sections.

To calculate the savings we subtracted the cost during an LCT term from the cost in the pre-LCT term and multiplied that difference times the number of enrolled students in the LCT term.

The average savings per student comes out to approximately $20 using this method, which seems anti-climactic in some ways – but while some courses had dramatic savings per student, a lot just broke even and a few actually went up a few dollars even though they stayed within the LCT range. These offset the total, whereas institutions that use a generic multiplier across all LCT-designated courses will not show this reality.

The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Clackamas Community College was 9,209.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Winter 2018	173	4,072	$65,181.59	1,515	11.42
Spring 2018	230	3,790	$84,980.11	1,650	13.94
Summer 2018	130	990	$28,122.46	486	26.75
Fall 2018	302	4,966	$108,625.12	1,537	19.65
Winter 2019	340	4,745	$81,143.48	1,533	22.18
Spring 2019	337	5,618	$107,174.62	1,524	22.11
Total	1512	24181	$475,227.38	8245	18.34

Clatsop Community College

We are listing low/no cost textbooks in our print catalog now and won’t be adding that feature to our online catalog until we replace our student information system. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Clatsop Community College was 1,741.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Winter 2019	44	660	49500	147	29.93
Spring 2019	50	750	56,250	134	37.31
Total	94	1410	$105,750	281	33.45

Columbia Gorge Community College

Columbia Gorge Community College was one of Oregon’s earliest adopters of a schedule designation. Since 2011, in 627 sections, 9,163 students have saved an estimated $916,300. CGCC uses the $100 multiplier to estimate savings. No-cost/low cost sections offered that didn’t fill were counted towards designated sections, though they didn’t result in student savings. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Columbia Gorge Community College was 1,492.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	36	303	$30,300	40	90.00
Fall 2017	65	1,037	$103,700	129	50.39
Winter 2018	83	1,297	$129,700	125	66.40
Spring 2018	76	1,019	$101,900	137	55.47
Summer 2018	33	255	25500	28	117.86
Fall 2018	85	1297	129700	129	65.89
Winter 2019	83	1070	10700	121	68.60
Spring 2019	85	993	99300	115	73.91
Total	546	7,271	$630,800	824	66.26

Klamath Community College

The data for the no-cost/low cost designation was obtained from the Institutional Researchers Office. Enrollment is based on week 4 numbers for classes with a minimum enrollment of 10 students. The low-cost courses are estimated at a $60 per person savings. The no-cost courses are estimated at $100 savings per person. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Klamath Community College was 1,954.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	10	153	$14,860	53	18.87
Fall 2017	25	534	$49,360	191	13.09
Winter 2018	26	559	$54,740	184	14.13
Spring 2018	30	515	$47,620	165	18.18
Summer 2018	18	315	29900	57	31.58
Fall 2018	27	539	52340	177	15.25
Winter 2019	49	896	80160	177	27.68
Spring 2019	37	690	60880	165	22.42
Total	222	4,201	$389,860	1169	18.99

Lane Community College

We didn’t have a working designation until Spring 2018, so that’s why there’s only one year of results here. We’re also considering reporting projected savings as a range, considering that our OER/low-cost designation includes materials that cost $40 or less (this data uses $80 as a multiplier, an average of the $100 savings for no-cost and $60 savings for no-cost courses). Areas of significant progress within our first year of tracking OER sections include:

• Academic Learning Skills (ALS) with 62 designated sections out of 126 sections offered, allowing 952 students to use OER or low-cost materials
• Computer Information Technology (CIT) with 64 designated sections out of 159 sections offered, allowing 1121 students to use OER or low-cost materials
• Mathematics with 88 designated sections out of 322 sections offered, allowing 2261 students to use OER or low-cost materials

The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Lane Community College was 10,635.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2018	149	3,071	$245,680	1,022	14.58
Fall 2018	28	489	$39,120	309	9.06
Winter 2019	160	3,648	$291,840	1,111	14.40
Spring 2019	137	2,817	$225,360	1,061	12.91
Total	474	10,025	$802,000	3503	13.53

Linn-Benton Community College

At Linn-Benton Community College, Michaela Willi Hooper, OER/Textbook Affordability Librarian, identifies courses using OER, library resources, and free resources to replace materials that students have to pay for individually by collecting data from the bookstore, syllabi, and faculty inquiries. She pulls enrollment data from the student information system and calculates savings based on historic new textbook prices at the college store. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Linn-Benton Community College was 8,636.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	23	332	$40,248.48	194	11.86
Fall 2017	139	3,439	$444,863.29	1019	13.64
Winter 2018	114	2,785	$382,232.63	925	12.32
Spring 2018	115	2,581	$326,424.34	813	14.15
Summer 2018	24	495	$62,753.21	158	15.19
Fall 2018	180	4054	$505,949.54	946	19.03
Winter 2019	165	3720	$469,451.25	875	18.86
Spring 2019	153	3191	$420,479.07	812	18.84
Total	913	20,597	$2,652,401.81	5742	15.90

Mt. Hood Community College

Estimated savings are calculated using the No-Cost/Low-Cost designation that faculty reported on the Course Section Reporting Form. We assumed a cost savings to the student of $100 in no-cost sections and $75 in low-cost sections. These numbers exclude College Now and Apprenticeship credit courses and some of our non-credit areas like Community Ed and Workforce. It does however include ABS/GED areas as these faculty are asked to fill out the course section reporting form.

Mt. Hood Community College saw low reporting rates during the 2018-19 academic year due to lack of marking resulting from too few reminders to faculty. So this is data from the faculty who remembered to report all on their own.

The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Mt. Hood Community College was 9,258.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	44	578	$53,400.00	479	9.19
Fall 2017	186	3,461	$310,025.00	1184	15.71
Winter 2018	141	2,452	$223,950.00	1117	12.62
Spring 2018	104	1,620	$146,875.00	1126	9.24
Summer 2018*	17	206	$19,375.00	432	3.94
Fall 2018*	64	1194	$110,400.00	1120	5.71
Winter 2019*	42	645	$60,100.00	1055	3.98
Spring 2019*	67	1228	$114,175.00	1062	6.31
Total	665	11,384	$1,038,300.00	7575	8.78

Oregon Coast Community College

Oregon Coast Community College estimates $100 savings per student, per course. The bookstore maintains a list of courses with the designation “No Text Required.” The college does not track low-cost courses. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Oregon Coast Community College was 944.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	13	77	$7,700.00	44	29.55
Fall 2017	29	352	$35,200.00	119	24.37
Winter 2018	26	325	$32,500.00	137	18.98
Spring 2018	28	343	$34,300.00	131	21.37
Summer 2018	15	78	$7,800.00	49	30.61
Fall 2018	31	361	$36,100.00	140	22.14
Winter 2019	25	274	$27,400.00	142	17.61
Spring 2019	33	329	$32,900.00	150	22.00
Total	200	2,139	$213,900.00	912	21.93

Oregon State University

Until fall 2018, OSU did not have a mechanism to distinguish low-cost and no-cost course materials. All numbers below are therefore self-reported by faculty. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, faculty could only designate a course as either “no cost via bookstore” or “no cost via instructor.” In Winter 2019, OSU began to count courses using low-cost materials (under $40).

The enrollment information came from the Beaver Bookstore. We used the actual enrollment data when available; otherwise, we used an estimated enrollment number. To estimate the cost savings, OSU uses $75 as the average per textbook for no-cost courses in order to reflect more accurately the fact that many students rent, buy used, or rely on the library course reserves materials to acquire their textbook (OpenStax lowered their “lower-end” number to $79 to reflect the national textbook cost data). OSU uses $40 for low-cost courses.

OSU estimates that approximately 4000 course sections are offered per term. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Oregon State University was 32,245.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	13	553	$41,475	4000	0.33
Fall 2017	15	876	$65,700	4000	0.38
Winter 2018	10	534	$40,050	4000	0.25
Spring 2018	28	1158	$86,850	4000	0.70
Summer 2018	19	1083	$81,225	4000	0.48
Fall 2018	28	1221	$91,575	4000	0.70
Winter 2019	435	12014	637250	4000	10.88
Spring 2019	409	11097	581045	4000	10.23
Total	957	28536	$1,625,170	32000	2.99

Portland Community College

Savings are estimates and use $100 text cost as per Open Oregon Educational Resources suggestion in Estimating student savings from no-cost/low-cost course materials. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Portland Community College was 33,789.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	390	5525	$486,340	2,965	13.15
Fall 2017	1004	14956	$1,353,280	5,836	17.20
Winter 2018	750	12293	$1,076,220	5,742	13.06
Spring 2018	1069	15851	$1,383,420	5,702	18.75
Summer 2018	240	3586	$319,920.00	2,872	8.36
Fall 2018	786	12021	$1,141,060.00	5,615	14.00
Winter 2019	980	15244	$1,415,640.00	5,307	18.47
Spring 2019	728	11241	$1,064,980.00	5,202	13.99
Total	5947	90717	$8,240,860	39,241	15.16

Portland State University

Our savings estimates uses $90 as an average expenditure per student, per course. This average is a commonly used figure in literature and research on open (see, for example, Hilton, Robinson, Wiley, and Ackerman’s article, Cost-savings achieved in two semesters through the adoption of open educational resources). The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Portland State University was 26,379.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Fall 2017	2	4	$360	5,224	0.04
Winter 2018	338	5,754	$517,860	5,193	6.51
Spring 2018	285	4,823	$434,070	5236	5.44
Summer 2018	35	636	57240	1774	1.97
Fall 2018	168	2,840	255600	4900	3.43
Winter 2019	311	5189	467010	5041	6.17
Spring 2019	279	4304	387360	5,165	5.40
Total	1418	23550	$2,119,500	32533	4.36

Rogue Community College

To estimate student savings at Rogue Community College from designated no-cost/low-cost course designations on the schedule, we ran a report on textbook adoptions reported to the bookstore. For the headcount, we use the estimated figure of 20 students per class. We used the established figure of $100 as the cost of a traditional textbook to compare to no-cost/low-cost textbooks.

RCC students are actually saving much more than our recorded estimated savings, because not all faculty report their adoptions to the bookstore and the current LMS, in certain scenarios, does not correctly flag all no-cost/low-cost textbooks. For example, a course that offers a print OER, as well as access to the free online version, will report their textbook as “optional” to allow students the choice of buying the print book or accessing the free version. However, marking a textbook “optional” does not flag it as a no-cost/low-cost textbook in the schedule.

The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Rogue Community College was 6,203.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	2		$3,197	1003	0.20
Fall 2017	98		$159,185	1509	6.49
Winter 2018	193		$315,383	1724	11.19
Spring 2018	537		$1,010,712	1776	30.24
Summer 2018	295		$562,458.00	976	30.23
Fall 2018	460		$842,894.00	1421	32.37
Winter 2019	369		$677,748.00	1728	21.35
Spring 2019	44		$76,602.00	1456	3.02
Total	1998	0	$3,648,179	11593	17.23

Southern Oregon University

Spring 19 was the first term that SOU had a no-cost/low-cost schedule designation. Based on enrollment and assuming a $100 textbook, students saved $520,551 in courses with no materials costs, and $148,065 in courses with low materials costs. The former is almost certainly an overestimate, as it includes courses that probably never had a textbook, like the arts and athletics. On the other hand, we also have a nearly 500 courses with no adoption information that included no- and low-cost courses, offsetting the overestimated number. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Southern Oregon University was 6,119.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Spring 2019	459	6083	$668,616.00	1082	42.42
Total	459	6083	$668,616	1082	42.42

Southwestern Oregon Community College

Southwestern Oregon Community College’s institutional researcher prepared a report showing all classes marked as LC or NC in the student information system (Jenzabar), along with student enrollments per section. The higher course and enrollment numbers beginning in Spring 18 reflect progress in moving from pilot to full implementation with the course schedule designation. SOCC used $100 as the savings estimate for no-cost courses, and $50 as the savings estimate for low-cost courses (because their low-cost threshold is $50). The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Southwestern Oregon Community College was 2,910.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	0	0	$0
Fall 2017	7	161	$10,700
Winter 2018	10	157	$9,800
Spring 2018	80	1,096	$74,750
Summer 2018	8	115	7900
Fall 2018	78	1415	101650
Winter 2019	73	1210	83300
Spring 2019	82	1345	98650
Total	338	5499	$386,750	1445	23.39

Treasure Valley Community College

Treasure Valley Community College estimates savings for no-cost courses at $75, and for low-cost courses at $50. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Treasure Valley Community College was 941.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	1	14	$1,050	464	0.22
Fall 2017	4	14	$750	942	0.42
Winter 2018	130	868	$53,850	816	15.93
Spring 2018	140	1,136	$77,200	971	14.42
Summer 2018	2	2	150	534	0.37
Fall 2018	114	849	42550	864	13.19
Winter 2019	129	0	0	480	26.88
Spring 2019	140	0	0	438	31.96
Total	660	2883	$175,550	5509	11.98

Umpqua Community College

Librarians at Umpqua Community College pull an enrollment report for courses with the no-cost attribute from the SIS, then multiply enrollment by $100 to estimate savings. Savings for Low Cost designated courses was calculated as $50 per student based upon the $100 average cost of a textbook minus the $50 price maximum of course materials for Low Cost designated courses. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for Umpqua Community College was 3,785.

Note that data from Summer 2018 – Spring 2019 is not as accurate as we would like. We had problems with the process that faculty reported information to the bookstore during this time. We have worked to fix it and expect that will have fairly reliable data beginning fall 2019 and that its reliability will continue to improve as we check its accuracy and make improvements.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Summer 2017	10	148	$14,800	153	6.54
Fall 2017	22	393	$39,300	461	4.77
Winter 2018	33	448	$34,750	442	7.47
Spring 2018	65	896	$70,650	437	14.87
Summer 2018	9	222	9750	112	8.04
Fall 2018	30	592	44800	424	7.08
Winter 2019	44	601	36450	376	11.70
Spring 2019	70	1100	65400	398	17.59
Total	283	4400	$315,900	2803	10.10

University of Oregon

For each course designated at low/no cost, we calculate: ( max enrollment * $100) – ( max enrollment * actual cost ) = savings. Actual enrollment won’t be as consistent term over term when reporting; actual enrollment is also close enough to maximum enrollment to be negligible for these purposes. The 2018 Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment for University of Oregon was 22,777.

Term	# Designated Sections	# Students in Designated Sections	Estimated Savings	Total sections offered	% no-cost/low-cost
Fall 2017	551	20767	$1,494,041	3390	16.25
Winter 2018	411	14707	$1,108,909	2226	18.46
Spring 2018	379	15052	$1,142,640	2273	16.67
Summer 2018	94	4154	$303,711	1747	5.38
Fall 2018	480	18259	$1,384,749	2367	20.28
Winter 2019	440	15870	$1,197,983	2026	21.72
Spring 2019	409	14250	$959,243	2051	19.94
Total	2764	103059	$7,591,276	16080	17.19

Data sources

Oregon Community College Fall, Fourth Week Headcount Enrollment, 2012-2018
Oregon Public University NONRESIDENT Fall 4th Week Headcount Enrollment Including Extended Enrollment, 2001-2018
Oregon Public University Resident Fall 4th Week Headcount Enrollment Including Extended Enrollment, 2001-2018