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UNC Affordable & OER Committee

UNC Affordable and Open Educational Resources Committee logo

Nancy A. Henke, Committee Chair
Textbook Affordability Librarian
nancy.henke@unco.edu

Members of the 2025-26 AOER Committee

Screenshot of a Teams meeting showing 9 committee members named in text below the picture.

Top row: Nancy Henke, Kathy Zellers, Kayla Howerton; Middle row: Kiki Gilderhus, Angela Rockwell, Molly Desjardins; Bottom row: Matt Farber, Cassie Bergstrom, Katie Guerrero.

Not pictured: Franklina Addae, Caterina Azzarello, Jay Dinges, Mackenize Green

What UNC Students Say About Textbook Costs

Some students already struggle to pay for rent, bills, transportation, tuition and even necessities like food. Imagine the relief if we had one less thing to worry about, like not purchasing books.
I spend less than I could on textbooks, but it is still a sizable chunk of money. Multiple times I have had to put off paying certain bills or repairing my car in order to pay for textbooks
“I know students who have failed because they can’t afford the textbook…it has caused me to stress greatly and I had to choose between getting food or getting the textbook.”
“Taking classes without the required materials is a lot like starting a course half-way through the semester; it feels like every assignment and lecture is in the middle of a topic that you’ve never even heard about before... It felt like I was getting half the education that I’d paid for simply because I wasn’t able to afford the materials for those classes.”
"It seems likely that at some point I will simply not be able to purchase textbooks because of their cost. $500 could get me through half a month of supporting my family, and that's a big deal."
"It's ridiculous how much textbooks costs. It makes me worry, and sometimes for the first few weeks I haven't been able to eat because I spent too much money on textbooks, clickers, handbooks, supplemental materials, etc."
"Buying textbooks is a huge stress for me each semester. It is something I dread. I have maxed out credit cards to afford my textbooks and have yet to pay off those books from up to two years ago."
"Costs of textbooks are out of control and are a barrier to education. One spring semester I had to choose books over heating for my apartment. I also took out an extra credit card to pay for books."