Plaintext
Material Costs in the Schedule FAQ:
As a result HB2871 Oregon colleges and universities are required to “prominently designate
courses whose course materials exclusively consist of open or free textbooks or other low-cost
or no-cost course materials” at the point of registration. In our online schedule, PCC will use 2
designations for courses with:
$0 required costs
and
$40 or under required costs
Included in the cost caps are: textbooks and other text-based materials, workbooks, lab
manuals, online homework platforms and codes or publisher-provided curricular materials for
students.
Excluded from the cost caps are: art supplies, calculators, class fees that are not used for course
materials as described above, or equipment.
See Designation Determination FAQ below for more information.
What should I be doing?
Faculty
Calculate the cost of text/publisher materials for your courses. Contact the bookstore for
assistance with this step. If your course meets one of the 2 designations, either contact
the person who enters scheduling information for your department into Banner (usually
your IAA) to notify them, or wait for your FDC or IAA to ask for this information.
If your course doesn’t meet one of these designations, you don’t need to do anything.
Department Chairs & Deans
Work with your faculty and schedule entry-ers to develop processes to collect this
information from faculty each term. Designate roles and responsibilities for FDCs and
schedule entry-ers in this information collection process. Suggestions include using a
Google form or spreadsheet to allow faculty to input their own information to reduce
the workload for all involved. Contact the OER Steering Committee for more guidance on
collecting this information (oer@pcc.edu).
Created by PCC OER Steering Committee, October, 2016
tinyurl.com/designationfaq
Schedule Entry-ers/IAAs
Work with your faculty and FDCs to develop processes to collect this information from
faculty each term. Designate roles and responsibilities for FDCs and schedule entry-ers in
this information collection process. Suggestions include using a Google form or
spreadsheet to allow faculty to input their own information to reduce the workload for
all involved.
While we ask that you help to facilitate these processes to collect this information, it is
the responsibility of the faculty to communicate these designations by the time the
classes are to be built in Banner (or when registration begins, at the latest). If the
designation level of the class is not provided to you, the class should not receive either
designation in Banner and will display in the online schedule as usual. Contact the OER
Steering Committee for more guidance on collecting this information (oer@pcc.edu).
For instructions on how to enter material cost designations in Banner, see the SSADETL
page on the Schedule Entry Spaces site:
https://spaces.pcc.edu/display/schedule/SSADETL
Designation Determination FAQ
Optional costs should not be included in your calculation.
For example: you provide students with a link to a free, online version of your materials
but give them the option to purchase materials in print. The cost of optional print
materials should not be included in your calculation. However, if the print version is
required in your class, you should include that cost in your calculation.
If a text is used across multiple courses in a sequence DO NOT base your
calculation on the cost divided by those courses.
For example, a text that costs $120 that is required for 3 sequenced courses DOES NOT
meet the $40 or under label requirement.
Not all students take all courses in a series.
Students may take courses over time and may have to pay for edition changes.
Students must pay the $120 and cannot budget for 3 even payments.
Created by PCC OER Steering Committee, October, 2016
tinyurl.com/designationfaq
Only identify courses that meet these cost-cap requirements ($0 or $40 or
under).
By default, classes that do not meet one of these two cost caps will not be designated
(same as now). Schedule-builders will have the new ability to call out courses that meet
one of these two material cost caps in the online schedule, but all other courses will
remain unmarked by default.
What cost should I use? What if materials are less expensive on Amazon,
etc.?
To calculate your text-related costs for these designations, use the cost of materials in
the PCC Bookstore. While materials may be less expensive elsewhere, students using
financial aid must purchase materials from the bookstore. Contact Ken Brown, bookstore
manager for help with bookstore pricing.
What if my text is available as an e-book through the PCC library?
If your required text is available as a free-to-students ebook through the PCC library, as
long as you don’t require the printed text in your class, your course can qualify for the $0
cost designation. However, in this case, the text should not be listed as “required”
through the bookstore’s site, because students may assume they must purchase it.
Consider listing the text as “optional” on the bookstore’s site and messaging students
about their choices before the term begins.
What if I don’t require any texts or “outside” materials for my class?
Your course CAN qualify for the $0 designation if no “outside” materials or texts are
required. For the purposes of these cost designations, it doesn’t matter if you are using
instructor-created materials, activities, slides, websites, library materials, etc. Apply the
question: does my course have any text or publisher-related costs? If the answer is no,
the course meets the $0 designation. If the answer is yes, but $40 or less, the course
meets the low-cost designation.
What if I am unsure about the cost of my materials?
Consult the PCC Bookstore for guidance. If you are still unsure about whether your
course meets one of the two designations at the registration deadline, DO NOT ask your
schedule-builder to designate your course.
Created by PCC OER Steering Committee, October, 2016
tinyurl.com/designationfaq
What about other institutions?
The requirements set out by HB2871 apply to all public Oregon colleges and universities.
The law was inspired by course-designations that other institutions outside of Oregon
have implemented. Below are some examples as well as information from other OR
institutions:
Institution Designation description State
Oregon Coast Community 2 levels- “no cost” and “low cost” <$40 in Oregon
College online schedule
Implemented fall 2016
Columbia Gorge Community 1 designation logo for <$50 Oregon
College Implemented 2014
Portland State University 1 designation logo <$50 Oregon
Planned implementation summer 2017
Lane Community College Planned: 2 levels- “no cost” and “low cost” Oregon
<$30 in online schedule
Maricopa Community College 1 designation <$40 Searchable in online Arizona
System schedule
See “more search options” and select Math as
a subject for example
Tacoma & Spokane 2 designation levels “low cost” and “OER” Washington
Community Colleges searchable in the online schedule; See
“additional search criteria” and “course
attributes”
Additionally, California recently passed a similar law, SB1359.
Questions? Contact the OER Steering Committee: oer@pcc.edu
Created by PCC OER Steering Committee, October, 2016
tinyurl.com/designationfaq