Open Nebraska Initiative Increases Student Affordability at UNO

A highly collaborative partnership between the UNO Bookstore; Criss Library; the Registrar; the University of Nebraska system (NU) ITS Digital Learning team; and the NU Provost’s Office is focused on saving students money by increasing the use of high-quality free and reduced-cost digital course materials directly within Canvas in lieu of purchasing standard textbooks.

This effort – referred to broadly as Open Nebraska – has now saved UNO students over $2.2M. These digital course materials have the additional benefit of being available to students on the first day of the semester, which increases a student’s ability to be successful by having consistent, day-one access to required course materials.

The University of Nebraska is committed to student affordability, setting a goal of saving NU students $10M by 2023 through this program. As of today, the current savings across our four NU campuses is just over $7.7M compared to the cost of purchasing traditional course materials.

Students

Beginning with the Spring 2022 semester schedule, UNO students will now be able to search for which classes are a part of Open Nebraska as they select and register for specific course sections. Students will see free course material options designated within Open Nebraska, and will also see which courses utilize digital course materials that are under $40.

1. Visit the Class Search Page
2. Select your term, session, subject, and other fields
3. Choose "Open Nebraska" from the Programs dropdown menu

Faculty

If you are a faculty member and have not yet begun converting your course to take advantage of these types of course materials but are interested in doing so, there are a number of funding opportunities and supports available to you through Criss Library and the NU ITS Digital Learning team. These supports and funding opportunities are described in more detail on the UNO Digital Learning Open Nebraska (ONE) website.