No-Cost and Low-Cost Course Marking Attributes Available in SIS for Winter and Spring 2025

10/28/2024
By Julie Nash and Donna Mellen

We are excited to announce that “no-cost” and “low-cost” course marking attributes will be available in the Student Information System (SIS) in time for Spring 2025 student registration.

These attributes can be filtered at the section level to indicate whether the course materials are:

• No-cost ($0) course materials; or
• Low-cost ($50 or less) course materials.

This is part of a larger initiative directed by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education's statewide Open Educational Resources Advisory Council and includes all Massachusetts public higher education institutions. The department has identified course markings as a method to provide transparency for students who are seeking courses using no- or low-cost course materials to reduce their textbook costs, increase affordability of their college education, and provide equity to students who are unable to pay for textbooks.

UMass Lowell will report this data annually to the Mass. Department of Higher Education. Many of our faculty have already been using no- and low-cost textbooks for years, and adding these course markings in SIS will further support students in making informed decisions during registration.

The OER Task Force -- including members from the Provost’s Office, faculty, registrar, Academic Technology, Web Development and Experience Team, Library, Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR), Administrative Services, Bookstore and Student Government Association -- has been working to advance this initiative for several years.

This job aid (pdf) provides step-by-step instructions on how to search for courses with “no-cost” and “low-cost” attributes in SIS for winter and spring 2025.

Students should continue to seek financial aid and bookstore vouchers to assist with the costs of textbooks. Since this is a new initiative, not all courses will have these attributes yet, and we expect the implementation to grow over time. Students should also continue researching textbook costs through the Bookstore website.

Please email OER@uml.edu if you have questions.