DENVER- July 24, 2025: Today, Governor Polis announced several Open Educational Resource (OER) awards that increase access, equity, and affordability in higher education. Polis re-issued the Zero Textbook Cost "ZTC" Challenge for Colorado institutions. Zero textbook cost (ZTC) programs enable students to complete their degree without paying for textbooks through the use of open educational resources. Polis first issued the ZTC Challenge in 2020. View the Governor’s recent message
“Education should open doors, not close them with a price tag. Open source education resources save students money and will help give a fair start,” said Governor Polis. “Textbooks can cost students thousands of dollars each year, adding an additional barrier to learning. These textbooks are free. This effort helps ensure no student is left behind because of the cost of textbooks.”
Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) will offer a zero textbook cost degrees in both associate of arts and associate of science degrees starting in fall 2025. The ZTC degrees utilize Open Educational Resources (OER) exclusively, eliminating textbook costs for students pursuing in-person associate degrees at the rural community college. CNCC offered no OER courses five years ago and has been able to transform complete degree programs to zero textbook cost through the state’s OER grant program. At the 2025 Colorado OER Conference, CNCC received the Governor’s Award for Institutional Advancement to ZTC.
The University of Colorado College of Nursing at the Anschutz Medical Campus and Fort Lewis College earned the 2025 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Workforce Z Degree for collaboratively transforming the undergraduate nursing program into a zero textbook cost degree. The nursing ZTC degree will increase affordability and retention of the nursing program, expand the nursing workforce in Colorado to match our diverse patient population, provide more culturally congruent care and supply innovative solutions to nursing shortages in rural areas of the state.
Since 2020, more than 2,000 courses across Colorado institutions have become zero textbook cost through the OER grant program and ZTC degrees have been developed at institutions across the state, including a bachelor’s in Spanish at Colorado State University Pueblo, master’s in mechanical engineering at Colorado School of Mines, bachelor's in mathematics at University of Colorado Denver, associate’s in theatre at Red Rocks Community College, and a bachelor of applied science in business through the Colorado Community College System.
At the 2025 Colorado OER Conference, five categories were recognized through the annual Colorado OER Awards.
- Los Valientes, a group of Spanish faculty at Colorado State University Pueblo, were recognized as the 2025 Exceptional OER Team for creating Colorado’s first ZTC degree;
- University of Colorado Denver Mathematics and Statistical Sciences Department were recognized as the 2025 Exceptional OER Project for developing the ZTC degree in mathematics;
- Yingjie Li, Runqing Qi and Yu Zhang of University of Colorado Boulder were recognized for the 2025 Exceptional OER Creation for EverFlow Mandarin: An intermediate-advanced level OER Chinese Textbook;
- Mitch Cota of Arapahoe Community College and Seth Velutich of Colorado School of Mines were recognized as 2025 Exceptional OER Partners; and
- Jen Mayer of University Northern Colorado was recognized as the 2025 Colorado OER Champion.
“It’s incredible to see how the use of OER has expanded over the past several years,” said Dr. Angie Paccione, CDHE executive director. “When we remove the cost of access, we remove the limits on potential.”
Outstanding ZTC faculty, staff, courses, programs and pathways will be recognized at the 2026 Colorado OER Conference on Friday, May 29 at Arapahoe Community College. Nominations for Governor ZTC awards and Colorado OER Awards will open in spring 2026.
Get Involved
In conjunction with the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), the OER Council hosts events and other professional development opportunities to help others learn about the open education movement in Colorado. Opportunities are advertised in the monthly Colorado OER newsletter.
OER Grant Program
The Colorado OER Grant Program awards funds to public higher education institutions for zero textbook degree development, collaborative partnerships, and other open educational projects. The eighth cycle of the grant program will award $1 million to OER projects. The 2025 OER grant request for proposals is open with proposals due Monday, September 15, 2025.
To learn more about the program, including the impacts and reach of the grants, read the 2024 report Transforming Education Practices through Open Educational Resources.
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