CSUSB Affordable Solutions Grant
(Please note Inclusive Access is suspended for Fall 2024 due to the Equitable Access pilot program)
The CSUSB Affordable Learning Solutions Grant is designed to encourage faculty to discover, adopt, and assign low- or no-cost, quality educational materials for their courses. For more information about faculty adoptions, please visit the ‘Affordable Learning Solutions: Introduction’ site and view the ALS Video webinar produced by Lisa Bartle of Pfau Library.
What Is the Grant’s Purpose?
The Grant compensates faculty for the time they will invest in locating and adopting more affordable instructional materials for their students. The grant consists of $700 for the adoption of Open Education Resources (OER) or $300 for opting into an Immediate/Inclusive Access (IA) Program (please note IA is suspended for Fall 2024 due to the Equitable Access pilot). The incentive is payable as professional development, and will be disbursed at the end of summer after upon completion of all requirements.
How Do I Qualify?
If you have reduced your course materials cost by 30% from the course’s most recent offering, or if your new course has adopted low- or no-cost materials that save a similar amount (30%), then you can qualify either for a $700 grant (for adopting no-cost Open Educational Resources materials) or a $300 grant (for adopting Immediate/Inclusive Access materials). Both grants are payable in professional development funds.
Why Adopt?
Low- or no-cost course materials are essential to our students’ success.
Currently, rent prices in the Inland Empire are rising faster than anywhere in the United States while consumer goods are rising at double the rate of surrounding counties. Providing low- or no-cost course materials – particularly those that are available to students on their first day of class – ensures that more students have the materials they need to succeed in our courses without adding to their financial demands.
How to Apply?
Please contact ALS Coordinator Dr. Cary Barber at affordablesolutions@csusb.edu.
What Information Will I Need?
Please have the following information available when applying:
• Course number (e.g., SPAN 4411)
• Course name (e.g., Special Topics in Theater/Literature)
• Enrollment (approx.)
• Year and semester (or quarter, if applicable) when the course was last taught
• Previous textbook title, author, and cost
• First semester when you will teach the course with ALS
• A brief description of your plan to reduce the costs of instructional materials.
Plans may include the adoption of a cheaper textbook, the replacement of the textbook with a library copy, the inclusion of other OER materials, participation in the Immediate Access Program, etc. If applicable, please include the title of the new textbook or instructional materials [for help selecting your class materials visit http://www.merlot.org and http://cool4ed.org or check the collection of resources for Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS) and Open Educational Resources (OER) that our OER specialist librarian, Lisa Bartle, has created. Projected cost of the new instructional materials
Who Can Apply?
Full-time and part-time faculty are welcome to apply. A proposed class project shall not duplicate any other project already funded by AL$ or from any other source within the university during the same academic year (please see more information on the CSUSB AL$ website). Participants may only receive one grant per academic term (Summer, Fall, or Spring). Proposals should not duplicate projects already funded through other university sources.
Requirements for completion:
1. Implementation of the project during the academic year.
2. A public portfolio of your project on Merlot prepared no later than two weeks after the conclusion of the course. Please see examples of previous portfolios here. Dr. Barbara Sperling (bsperling@calstate.edu), our Special Consultant to Merlot, will provide help with the preparation of the portfolio. This link shows you a template of the e-portfolio.
3. Participation in an ALS Showcase in the Spring term of the academic year in which you participate in the ALS program. Your presentation will discuss your experience with the program, successes of and/or challenges faced in incorporating these materials into your course design, the total amount of money students saved, and useful resources, curated content, or other helpful tips for faculty.
4. Data for the annual AL$ campus report (course; # of students; the cost of previous materials; the cost of current materials) upon completion of your project.