The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) launched Canada’s first zero textbook cost (ZTC) program in 2018, aiming to alleviate the financial burden of expensive course materials for students. This initiative has since grown to encompass eight credentials and nearly 800 individual courses from which ov...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Open Praxis |
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| Online Access: | https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/announcement/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/832 |
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| author | Rajiv Jhangiani Oya Pakkal Xiaoyang Xia |
| author_facet | Rajiv Jhangiani Oya Pakkal Xiaoyang Xia |
| author_sort | Rajiv Jhangiani |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) launched Canada’s first zero textbook cost (ZTC) program in 2018, aiming to alleviate the financial burden of expensive course materials for students. This initiative has since grown to encompass eight credentials and nearly 800 individual courses from which over 24,000 students have benefited from nearly CA$13 million in cost savings. The present study investigated the multi-year impact of KPU’s ZTC initiative on educational outcomes, through an analysis of institutional-level data encompassing 13,605 course sections across the four academic years between September 2018 and August 2022. The study’s pre-registered hypotheses posited that ZTC course sections would exhibit either similar or enhanced levels of student course enrolment, persistence, and performance. Multilevel modelling that controlled for both between-course and within-courses sources of variance showed that ZTC course sections exhibited comparable mean fill and withdrawal rates and slightly higher mean GPAs than non-ZTC course sections. The findings of this study hold significant implications for higher education policy and practice, demonstrating that the substantial student cost savings that result from the programmatic adoption of open educational resources (OER) via institutional ZTC initiatives do not come at the cost of educational outcomes. As post-secondary institutions strive to widen equitable access and better support both pedagogical innovation and student success, the adoption and expansion of ZTC initiatives should be considered as a strategic priority. Limitations, practical recommendations, and directions for future research are discussed.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4a1f577eea5a40c4b4f9a9e335c46378 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1369-9997 2304-070X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Praxis |
| spelling | doaj-art-4a1f577eea5a40c4b4f9a9e335c463782025-08-20T03:28:17ZengInternational Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)Open Praxis1369-99972304-070X2025-07-0117210.55982/openpraxis.17.2.832The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost InitiativeRajiv Jhangiani0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2357-4782Oya Pakkal1https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0969-055XXiaoyang Xia2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9637-6106Brock UniversityBrock UniversityBrock University Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) launched Canada’s first zero textbook cost (ZTC) program in 2018, aiming to alleviate the financial burden of expensive course materials for students. This initiative has since grown to encompass eight credentials and nearly 800 individual courses from which over 24,000 students have benefited from nearly CA$13 million in cost savings. The present study investigated the multi-year impact of KPU’s ZTC initiative on educational outcomes, through an analysis of institutional-level data encompassing 13,605 course sections across the four academic years between September 2018 and August 2022. The study’s pre-registered hypotheses posited that ZTC course sections would exhibit either similar or enhanced levels of student course enrolment, persistence, and performance. Multilevel modelling that controlled for both between-course and within-courses sources of variance showed that ZTC course sections exhibited comparable mean fill and withdrawal rates and slightly higher mean GPAs than non-ZTC course sections. The findings of this study hold significant implications for higher education policy and practice, demonstrating that the substantial student cost savings that result from the programmatic adoption of open educational resources (OER) via institutional ZTC initiatives do not come at the cost of educational outcomes. As post-secondary institutions strive to widen equitable access and better support both pedagogical innovation and student success, the adoption and expansion of ZTC initiatives should be considered as a strategic priority. Limitations, practical recommendations, and directions for future research are discussed. https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/announcement/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/832zero textbook costZTCopen educational resourcesOEReducational outcomesenrolment |
| spellingShingle | Rajiv Jhangiani Oya Pakkal Xiaoyang Xia The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative Open Praxis zero textbook cost ZTC open educational resources OER educational outcomes enrolment |
| title | The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative |
| title_full | The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative |
| title_fullStr | The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative |
| title_short | The Multi-Year Impact of Canada’s First Zero Textbook Cost Initiative |
| title_sort | multi year impact of canada rsquo s first zero textbook cost initiative |
| topic | zero textbook cost ZTC open educational resources OER educational outcomes enrolment |
| url | https://account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/announcement/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/https:/account.openpraxis.org/index.php/up-j-op/wp-admin/ALFA_DATA/alfacgiapi/index.php/up-j-op/article/view/832 |
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