Stambaugh introduces legislation to reduce college costs
Rep. Melanie Stambaugh has introduced legislation to reduce the amount of money college students are spending on textbooks by expanding access to open educational resources (OER) at the state's public, four-year higher education institutions. House Bill 1768 would authorize the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) to award up to six grants of $100,000 each at these institutions to promote the development, adaptation and use of such resources.
“We must uncover and eliminate any barriers in place that hurt our students' ability to attend and graduate from college,” said Stambaugh. “This proposed grant program would build upon and expand existing OER programs to provide alternatives for students and potentially save them hundreds of dollars on textbooks each quarter.”
Open educational resources are education materials and resources that are free and available for use by anyone. OER include full courses, course materials, learning objectives, software, intellectual property licenses, and more.
Under the bill, the WSAC would award the grants and then be required to provide the Legislature with the following information by Nov. 1, 2019:
- Which public four-ear institutions received the grants;
- How the grant money was used to promote and expand the use of OER;
- What the estimated cost savings were to students as a result of the grants
House Bill 1768 currently awaits a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee.