Fall 2025, Resolution Number 111.03
Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force was charged with providing recommendations and regulatory actions to reduce instructional material costs and create sustainable, equitable solutions that prioritize the removal of financial, administrative, and psychological burdens on students, as outlined in its 2024 report Advancing Equity in Access, Support, and Success through Burden-Free Instructional Materials[1];
Whereas, The Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force emphasized that a “burden-free student experience” means the alleviation of all unnecessary burdens, including financial burdens, and noted that sustainable, no-cost course materials options, such as open educational resources, should be prioritized over practices auto-billing program such as “inclusive access”, which impose automatic fees on students and limit their agency when choosing how to obtain course materials (California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, 2024, p. 6);
Whereas, Auto-billing programs create new burdens for students by imposing automatic charges for course resources, often without offering meaningful options for opting out, and disproportionately affecting students who rely on financial aid or require print formats, thereby contradicting the intent of title 5 §54221[2] Burden-Free Access to Instructional Materials to remove cost burdens for students (California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, 2024, p. 8); and
Whereas, The California Community Colleges system’s vision for equitable access and success aligns with the goals of title 5 §54221, which seeks to prioritize the elimination of instructional material costs for students, and the burden-free approach outlined by the Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force underscores the importance of fostering student choice and agency without introducing new financial or administrative barriers;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges affirm that the intent of title 5 §54221 Burden-Free Access to Instructional Materials is to support students having access to instructional materials at no cost, thereby prioritizing the removal of cost burdens over access burdens;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge local academic senates to work with their respective colleges to avoid adopting auto-billing programs such as “inclusive access” that impose automatic charges on students, and instead support practices that align with the goals of title 5 §54221, including expanding the use of open educational resources and other no-cost instructional materials; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to continue implementing the recommendations of the Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force including discouraging practices that limit student choice or create new financial burdens, and providing guidance on fostering sustainable, no-cost instructional materials solutions.
[1] California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. (2024, April 15). Advancing equity in access, support and success through burden-free instructional materials [PDF]. California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/report/2024-burden-free-instructional-materials-4-15-24-a11y.pdf