Texas is putting more than $2 million behind free college textbooks. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the grants to nine Texas higher education institutions on Aug. 18 to support open educational resources for students in nursing and workforce training programs, according to a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board news release.
The awards flow through the Open Educational Resource Grant Program, which the coordinating board said helps institutions create and adopt openly licensed textbooks and other course materials that students can access through the OERTX digital library. The release identified the awards as the 2026-28 cycle.
“Texas schools offer a competitive education for a variety of high-demand careers,” Abbott said in the release. “As we strengthen our workforce in nursing, cybersecurity, electrical technology, and business, it is critical that students have access to the resources they need to succeed in their chosen field. These grants will expand access to free learning materials to make education more affordable for Texans.”
Texas Higher Education Commissioner Wynn Rosser framed the awards in terms of household budgets. “As every college student knows, the cost of textbooks and supplies can put a dent in their bank account,” Rosser said in the release. He said the grant program has reduced those costs through what he called the continual expansion of the OERTX online library of free textbooks and course materials.
The program has a track record the coordinating board put in numbers. Since Abbott and the 85th Texas Legislature established it in 2018, the release said, the program has assisted more than 33,000 Texas students and saved an estimated $3.5 million in textbook costs.
Recipients listed in the release include the Alamo Community College District, Collin County Community College District, El Paso County Community College District, Lamar Institute of Technology, Lee College, North Central Texas College, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas State University.
For students entering nursing and technical fields, where required course materials can run to hundreds of dollars a semester, the practical effect is fewer out-of-pocket costs at the start of a term. The coordinating board said materials produced under the awards are added to the OERTX library, where they remain available beyond the institutions that developed them.