Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program

Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program is sponsored by Colorado Department of Higher Education. Supports the adoption and development of open educational resources at Colorado institutions.

_**Colorado is leading the way in Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption, which has been shown to foster innovation, reduce costs and boost student success. **_ Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely available online teaching and learning materials accessible to students, instructors and self-learners.

OER textbooks and other learning resources are openly licensed, typically under a Creative Commons License, with the ability for instructors and students to freely retain copies, re-use, revise, remix and share. OER are free, no-cost materials. OER offers provides materials the first day of class, access into the future after the course ends, and the most affordable cost for students of $0.

The Colorado OER Grant Program funds the adoption and development of open educational resources at institutions across the state. The 2026 Request for Applications is open. The grants will fund four categories: Zero Textbook Cost Program Advancement, Collaborative, General Incentive Fund, and Individual Project.

Applications are due at**5:00PM on Tuesday, September 10** as a PDF submission to OER@dhe. state. co.

us The OER adopted, adapted, or created in the first six cycles of the grant program has **saved Colorado students over $59. 7 million in textbook costs**to date. The cumulative cost savings for the first six years of the grant program are projected to surpass $75 million in spring 2026.

Learn more about the impact of the Colorado OER Grant Program in the _2025 Open Educational Resources Report_. Awards totaling $1,000,000 for the eighth year of OER grant awards were approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education on December 4, 2025. Nearly half of the funding was awarded to grant projects that will develop zero textbook cost (ZTC) "z-degrees."

See awarded projects by grant type below. ### ZTC Development Grant 2026/27 ### Collaborative OER Grants 2026/27 | Expansion of the Colorado OER Anatomy Hub | University of Colorado Anschutz with collaborators at University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Denver, Colorado College, Colorado School of Mines, and Aurora Science and Tech High School | $74,205.

14 | ### Small Group OER Grants 2026/27 ### General Incentive OER Grants 2026/27 ### Individual Project OER Grants 2026/27 Awards totaling $1,000,000 for the seventh year of OER grant awards were approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education on December 4, 2024. Nearly half of the funding was awarded to grant projects that will develop zero textbook cost "z-degrees." See awarded projects by grant type below.

### Z-degree OER Grants 2025/26 ### Collaborative OER Grants 2025/26 ### Small Group OER Grants 2025/26 ### General Incentive OER Grants 2025/26 ### Individual & Professional Development OER Grants 2025/26 The 2026 Colorado OER Conference will be held on Friday, May 29 at Arapahoe Community College! This year’s conference theme is “Open for Good: Resilience, Innovation and Collaboration."

At the 2026 conference, we will explore adapting during crises, inspiring projects, community building, and co-creating with students through open pedagogy. Session proposals are accepted through February 15. Free registration is open.

Join the Colorado OER Community newsletter to stay updated on all Colorado OER opportunities. ## Governor Polis' Zero Textbook Cost Challenge Governor Polis is re-issuing the Zero Textbook Cost "ZTC" Challenge for Colorado institutions in 2025! In a ZTC program students take classes—and even finish their degree—without ever paying a dime for textbooks.

Zero textbook cost "z-degrees" have been developed at institutions across the state, including Colorado State University Pueblo (B. A. Spanish), Colorado Northwestern Community College (A.

A. and A. S.)

, Colorado School of Mines (M. S. mechanical engineering), University of Colorado Denver (B.

S. mathematics), and University of Colorado Anschutz and Fort Lewis College (B. S.

nursing). Outstanding ZTC faculty, staff, courses, programs, and pathways will be recognized at the next Colorado OER Conference in May 2026. Are you ready to make a difference on your campus?

Join the ZTC Challenge to zero-out textbook costs. ### 2024-25 Grantee Cohort #6 ### 2023-24 Grantee Cohort #5 ### 2022-23 Grantee Cohort #4 ### 2021-22 Grantee Cohort #3 ### 2020-21 Grantee Cohort #2 The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded nearly $550,000 to power 20 groundbreakingOER Granteesthat reflect the diversity of OER innovation. Read about the first cohort of grantees in the2019 OER Reportand2020 OER Report.

### 2025-26 Colorado Open Education Resources Council In the 2017 session, the Colorado legislature passed and the Governor signedSenate Bill 17-258, which creates the Open Educational Resources Council. This statewide body is charged to develop a plan for resources to benefit college and K-12 students throughout Colorado. Please email OER@dhe.

state. co. us with questions regarding the council.

OER Council meetings are typically held on the first Friday of the month from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM on Zoom. 2025-2026 Council meetings are Fridays August 8, September 5, October 3, November 7, December 5, January 9, February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1, and June 5. Council meetings are open to the public and can be joined via Zoom.

The October meeting will close to the public at 11:30 for grant review. The agenda and notes from the August 2025 to June 2026 OER Council meetings are available online. The OER Council does not meet in July.

**2025 Exceptional OER Team** Los Valientes Los Valientes (Dr. Alegría Ribadeneira, Dr. Katherine Brown, Jorge Arroyo and Tatiana Johnston) are a group of exceptional Spanish professors from Colorado State University - Pueblo, who embarked on a three-year journey to realize the first z-degree in Colorado.

They code-named themselves “Los Valientes” (the valiant ones) because of their bravery and determination in taking on the task in transforming the Spanish bachelor's of arts to zero textbook cost.

**2025 Exceptional OER Project** CU Denver Math Z-degrees Team The math z-degrees team is formed of instructors from the University of Colorado Denver Mathematics and Statistical Sciences Department: Troy Butler, Joshua French, Adam Spiegler, Stephen Hartke, Yaning Liu, Pamela Whitten, Robert Rostermundt, Daniel Klie, Yongxia Kuang.

Together they are creating zero textbook paths for bachelor's of science in mathematics, mathematics minor, and the data science certificate. **2025 Exceptional OER Creation** Everflow Mandarin Yingjie Li, Runqing Qi, and Yu Zhang (University of Colorado Boulder) co-authored 开源中文 EverFlow Mandarin: An intermediate-advanced level OER Chinese Textbook.

The textbook emphasizes discourse-level reading instruction by incorporating seven reading strategies, blending intensive and extensive reading instruction and learning objectives. The OER textbook has already been adopted beyond Colorado with Lake Forest College using the textbook since Fall 2024.

**2025 Exceptional OER Partner** mitch cota, Reference and OER Librarian, Arapahoe Community College; and Seth Vuletich, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Colorado School of Mines are recognized for their foundational support and tireless advocacy for open educational resources. Supportive partnership is too often not recognized and have earned these recipients a double award in this inaugural award year.

mitch and Seth's work as partners in OER is critical to the advances ACC and Mines have made toward in OER adoption and zero textbook cost initiatives. **2025 Colorado OER Champion** Jen Mayer, Interim Associate Dean, University of Northern Colorado Libraries, is the 2025 Colorado OER Champion. Nominator Nancy Henke, Textbook Affordability Librarian, wrote: "Jen Mayer is more than an advocate—she is a builder.

She has laid a foundation for OER growth at UNC and across Colorado that will benefit students and faculty for years to come. ” _Awards were voted on by the Colorado OER Council, which is made up of 5 faculty, 3 librarians, 1 administrator, 1 instructional designer, 1 IT professional, and 1 student from 11 public institutions; 2 private college representatives; and designees from CDHE, CDE and the State Library.

Councilmembers who were nominated were recused from voting in their category. 2026 Colorado OER Award nominations will open in spring 2026. _ **Governor’s Award for Outstanding Workforce Z Degree** CU & FLC Nursing Z-degree The University of Colorado College of Nursing at the Anschutz Medical Campus and Fort Lewis College are collaboratively transforming the undergraduate nursing program into a zero textbook cost degree.

This z-degree is the first collaborative effort between two institutions and the first targeted at workforce development. The work is funded by the Colorado OER grant program.

The nursing z-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.

**Governor’s Award for Institutional Advancement to ZTC: CNCC** Starting Fall 2025, Colorado Northwestern Community College will offer a zero textbook cost degree in both associate of arts and associate of science degrees. The A. A.

and A. S. z-degrees will utilize 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. This work has been coordinated by Nicholas Swails and Todd Ward. CNCC’s commitment to OER has saved students over $500,000 to date, resulting in a grant fund return on investment over 200%.