AURORA | Opposing banned books is critical, but free books is the focus of an Aurora college librarian working to offer not just classes, but degrees free of hefty book costs.
The Community College of Aurora has secured $34,700 in state grant funding to expand its use of free, open educational resources, college spokesperson Courtney Butler said in a statement.
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education last week announced that CCA received the General Incentive Grant through the Colorado Open Educational Resources Grant Program. The funding will support the development and adoption of no-cost learning materials, including textbooks and course modules, aimed at reducing costs for students.
Allyson Turner, CCA’s digital initiatives and open educational resources librarian, wrote the grant proposal, which ranked first among 35 submissions statewide, according to Butler. Turner said the college has focused on eliminating textbook costs across general education courses and degree pathways.
“My focus with these grants for the last couple of years has been creating general education pathways that have zero textbook costs and then building whole degrees that have zero textbook costs,” Turner said. “We actually have created a couple of what we call Z-degrees — our Associate Degree of Arts and Associate Degree of Science can both be completed with no textbook costs.”
Open educational resources, often referred to as OER, are free, online learning materials that can be reused, revised and shared under open copyright licenses, the release stated. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education, part of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, oversees the grant program.
The 2026 award marks CCA’s fifth year receiving funding through the Colorado OER Grant Program.
Chealsye Bowley, director of open education and learning innovation at the Colorado Department of Higher Education, lauded CCA’s leadership and faculty involvement in a statement included in the release.
“The Community College of Aurora will be a strong example as we look to continuing the Colorado OER program beyond 2026 — and this is due to The Hub’s role and the continued dedication from CCA instructors in embracing OER,” Bowley said.
Grant funds will be used in part to support faculty-led development of new or revised open resources. In early 2026, Turner plans to host a workshop encouraging instructors to submit other proposals for OER projects, with priority given to high-enrollment and high-cost courses, the release said. Instructors whose proposals are accepted will receive stipends funded by the grant.
College officials said the initiative benefits both students and instructors by lowering costs and allowing greater flexibility in teaching.
CCA is also exploring ways to involve students in the creation and design of open educational resources, Butler said.
“As CCA continues expanding high-quality, no-cost learning materials, the college remains committed to reducing financial barriers and empowering students to succeed from their first semester through graduation,” Butler said.
The Sentinel provided a picture of an interesting choice of books with this article. Although some titles have been discredited, none of the books are banned. Further, the article’s first sentence, “Opposing banned books is critical” has nothing to do with the rest of the article. It didn’t, or can’t, provide the name of one book banned in America. This is another example of the Sentinel’s poor journalism.