No Cost Educational Resources Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Foster
Introduced
Summary
Creates federal grants to make required STEM course readings free by supporting openly licensed digital texts. The bill authorizes a new grant program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to fund adoption, adaptation, and creation of open educational reading materials for higher education STEM courses.
Show full summary
- Students: Encourages more STEM classes to use only free digital required readings, aiming to lower out-of-pocket costs for students who take those courses.
- Colleges and libraries: Institutions of higher education can receive grants that assign library administrators and librarians to lead implementation and use library resources to support open materials.
- Faculty: Grants reward and protect faculty time to adopt, adapt, or create open readings through incentives like monetary awards or dedicated work time.
- Low-income and minority students: The Director must give priority to colleges that enroll many low-income or minority students, increasing access where costs often burden households.
- Oversight and results: IMLS must report within two years after the first grant on how many grants were made, whether more STEM courses use open readings, and how much students saved.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Free digital textbooks for STEM students
If enacted, the bill would create an IMLS grant program to expand free digital textbooks for STEM courses. It would define open educational reading materials as free digital texts you can download and share. Colleges would apply with plans led by librarians and made with STEM faculty. Grants would give priority to schools with many low-income or minority students. Grants would also favor plans that use free texts in high-enrollment STEM courses and that assign faculty and librarian coordinators. The IMLS Director would report to Congress within two years after the first grant. The report would list grants awarded, changes in courses using free texts, and estimated student savings.
New limits on IMLS grants
If enacted, the bill would change a rule so the Director's authority under one section must follow the new open-text grant rules. This makes actions under that subsection explicitly subject to the special procedures. It mainly affects IMLS procedures and grant applicants and would not directly change most household budgets.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Foster
IL • D
Cosponsors
Carson
IN • D
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in