Assembly Bill 607 – Requires Disclosure Of The Total Cost Of Course Materials For Online Courses Beginning July 1, 2024

Existing law requires California Community Colleges and the California State University, and requests the University of California, to clearly highlight the courses that exclusively use digital materials.  The law also requires that students be informed that the course material is free of charge and does not have to be purchased.  A low-cost option for print versions may be made available.

AB 607 amends existing law to require beginning July 1, 2024, the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and requests the University of California, to prominently display the estimated costs for required material and fees for each course.  The cost of materials must be posted for the following total number of courses on the online campus course schedule for which a faculty member or course instructor is assigned:

• 40% by January 1, 2025;
• 55% by January 1, 2026;
• 65% by January 1, 2027; and
• 75% by January 1, 2028.

AB 607 amends the existing definition of “course material” to include digital or physical textbooks, devices such as calculators and remote attendance platforms, and software subscriptions.  The bill also adds definitions for the following two terms:

• “Course schedule” is a collection of available classes, course sections, or both, published electronically, before the start of an academic term.
• “Open educational resources” are high-quality teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license, such as a Creative Commons license, that permits their free use and repurposing by others, and may include other resources that are legally available and free of cost to students. This includes, but is not limited to, full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, faculty-created content, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.

(AB 607 amends, repeals, and adds Section 66406.9 to the Education Code.)