No Cost Educational Resources Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Foster, Bill [D-IL-11]
Introduced
Summary
Free digital textbooks for STEM students. This bill would authorize the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to award grants to colleges for STEM courses that use only open educational reading materials, defined as free, downloadable, redistributable digital texts.
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- Students: Low-income and minority students could pay less for required readings because grants prioritize institutions that enroll many of these students and support courses that use only open materials.
- Colleges, librarians, and faculty: Institutions must apply with plans showing governance and collaboration with library administrators and STEM faculty, a process to review OER quality, use of library resources to support OER, and incentives for faculty to adopt, adapt, or create open materials.
- Courses and accountability: Grants target high-enrollment STEM courses and fund adoption, adaptation, or creation of OER. A report due no later than two years after the first grant must cover number of grants awarded, changes in STEM OER use, and student savings compared with paid readings.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Grants to fund free STEM course texts
If enacted, IMLS would be able to give grants to colleges to support STEM courses that use only free digital readings. Colleges applying would need library leaders, collaboration with STEM faculty, plans to work with other schools, and a plan to review OER quality. Grants would be prioritized for schools with many low‑income or minority students that commit to librarian and faculty coordination, library support, high‑enrollment STEM use, and faculty incentives. Within two years after the first grant, IMLS would have to report the number of grants, whether more STEM courses used free texts, and how much students saved.
Which digital texts qualify for grants
If enacted, the bill would define an "open educational reading material" as a free digital text publicly available to download and redistribute. It would define an "open educational reading material course" as a STEM course that uses only those free digital texts for required readings. These definitions would apply for the Section 262 grant program.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Foster, Bill [D-IL-11]
IL • D
Cosponsors
Carson
IN • D
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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