Zero Textbook Cost Courses

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As of Fall 2025, 99% of General Education sections are ZTC (zero-textbook-cost) or LTC (low-textbook-cost, under $25). The number of ZTC sections offered by the School has grown from 35 sections in Spring 2017 to 316 in Spring 2025, saving CUNY SPS students close to $4,300,000 on textbooks overall, or approximately $80 per seat in ZTC sections.

Instead of publisher's textbooks, ZTC courses use a mix of Open Education Resources (OER), links to scholarly and professional websites, resources from CUNY library databases, and multimedia lectures created by CUNY SPS professors. This work is made possible through generous funding from New York State to promote the use of OER in the CUNY and SUNY systems.

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CUNY SPS is home to CUNY's first bachelor's "Z Degrees." In Fall 2024, the bachelor’s degree in Disability Studies joins Communication and Media, Sociology, and Liberal Studies as undergraduate degree programs can be completed without ever purchasing a textbook. New Z Business tracks and degrees are planned for this year. New Z Business tracks and degrees are in the works for next year.

Zero Textbook Cost Sections

To find Zero Textbook Cost and Low Textbook Cost (textbook cost under $25) sections, search for the Zero Textbook Cost and Low Textbook Cost Attributes in CUNYfirst or CUNY Global Search. See the video above for instructions.