SUNY Open Educational Resources (OER) Impact Grants

The SUNY Open Educational Resources (OER) Impact Grants aim to enhance accessibility and affordability in education by promoting the use of OER across the State University of New York system. These grants support initiatives that reduce textbook costs and foster innovative teaching methods using openly licensed materials. By facilitating the adoption of OER, SUNY is committed to improving academic success and ensuring equitable access to high-quality educational resources for all students.

State University of New York (SUNY)
SUNY OER Services (SOS) is a system-wide initiative within State University of New York focused on expanding access, affordability, and academic success through the adoption and sustainable use of open educational resources (OER).  SOS collaborates with faculty and campuses across SUNY to provide ready-to-use OER course catalogs, professional development, technology support, and guidance for integrating openly licensed materials into the curriculum. By reducing textbook costs and implementing high-quality, adaptable learning resources, the program helps lower financial barriers for students while enabling instructors to personalize and improve teaching and learning outcomes.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accessible teaching, learning, and research materials that exist in the public domain or are openly licensed, allowing users to reuse and adapt them for educational purposes. Within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, OER course sections are defined as those where the majority of course materials are openly licensed, providing students with an affordable alternative to traditional textbooks. SUNY also recognizes Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses, where students are not required to purchase course texts or materials (though ancillary supplies may be needed), and Low Textbook Cost (LTC) courses, where total required textbook or courseware expenses are $25 or less. Courses using inclusive access agreements or OER-related fees totaling $25 or less also qualify as LTC, reinforcing SUNY’s commitment to reducing educational costs and expanding equitable access to learning resources.