10/24/2025
By Julie Nash and Donna Mellen
We are pleased to announce that NO COST and LOW COST course marking attributes will be added to the Student Information System (SIS) in time for spring 2026 student registration. The course attributes can be filtered at the section level to indicate if the textbook costs of their courses are either:
- NO COST ($0) course materials attribute
- LOW COST ($50 or less) course materials attribute
Students will be able to filter for NO COST and LOW COST courses during registration. This initiative supports transparency and affordability, and it’s a priority for our students. While it’s part of a statewide mandate from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (MA DHE), it’s also strongly backed by our Student Government Association (SGA) and MASSPIRG, who’ve led the charge through events like the OERscars and Faculty Senate presentations.
This data will be reported to the MA DHE on an annual basis. At UMass Lowell, many of our faculty have been using NO and LOW COST textbooks for years. Adding these course markings in SIS will help students make informed decisions during registration. The Open Educational Resources (OER) Task Force --including members from the Provost’s Office, faculty, Registrar, Academic Technology, Web Strategy and Communications, Library, Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR), Administrative Services, Bookstore and SGA -- have been working to advance this initiative for several years.
This job aid (pdf) provides instructions for students on how to search for NO and LOW COST book attributes in SIS.
Students should continue to seek financial aid and bookstore vouchers to assist with the costs of textbooks. Since this initiative is fairly new, not all courses will be identified with course attributes.
We expect it will take time to spread the word across campus and we encourage students to do their own research on textbook costs through the River Hawk Shop.
Please email OER@uml.edu if you have questions.