Florida’s Zero Textbook Cost Course Indicator

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Florida’s Zero Textbook Cost Course Indicator Definition

A Zero Textbook Cost icon may be placed with any course section requiring course materials at no cost to students.

  • Required course materials associated with the section must be zero cost for student access, including ancillaries, homework, quizzes, etc.
  • These resources must be freely accessible to the students without barriers. Placement within the registered student LMS is permitted provided the student has no additional costs for course section materials for the entire semester.
  • Students have access to materials on the first day of class and through course completion. It is preferable that students have a way to retain these educational resources for continued learning and reference (at minimal through degree completion or separation from the institution).
  • The format of materials may be either print, digital, or both.
    • Students may have the option for print-on-demand for digital materials, if a no-cost option is available to all students.
    • Courses where students are required to print materials would NOT qualify.
  • May include open educational resources, faculty developed content, institution developed content, institutionally retained or licensed campus library materials that all students enrolled in the course have simultaneous access to use, public domain, Creative Commons licensed, or any other properly licensed and adopted materials.
  • Optional resources may be for cost but must not be necessary for student success in the course.
    • Other required supplies (e.g. scantrons, scientific calculators, lab materials, etc.) are not considered a textbook cost, so if a course section meets the parameters noted above but has a materials fee, the section may still be considered ZTC.
  • Fees to access an online platform to do coursework or homework are considered a textbook cost, and therefore the course section would NOT qualify.