The course materials acquisitions process is experiencing a transformational period driven by open educational resources, inclusive access course materials models, and equitable access course materials models. Studies examining the effectiveness of open educational resources and inclusive access on student outcomes are widely available, however no studies exist that examine the impact of equitable access course materials models on student outcomes. This study examined the course completion rates of participants and non-participants of an equitable access course materials model. It sought to determine if there was a statistically significant relationship between success rates and a student’s participation status in an equitable access course materials program. Results of the study indicated statistical significance in all 11 demographic categories including a 15.58% increase in course completion rate in the total population and a 21.06% increase in course completion rate for Black students when comparing participant and non-participant populations. Furthermore, all category demographics analyzed were statistically significant at p=.001. The results of this study suggest that participants in an equitable access course materials model are much more likely to complete a course than non-participants.

The rising costs of course materials have higher education stakeholders looking for alternatives to the traditional course materials acquisition model. Two models of interest are open educational resources and inclusive access. Open educational resources have been widely studied. However, inclusive access has had a sudden rise in adoption across the country. This quick rise has left gaps in the literature as to the efficacy of such programs. A review of the literature on the efficacy of inclusive access course materials models returned only four published studies. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of an inclusive access course materials model on student outcomes at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC). WCTC provided student outcome data for 7110 students across six courses. The analysis documented significant differences between the before and after inclusive access samples for five of the nine categories examined. Results of this study fall in line with previous studies that have examined the impact of inclusive access course materials models on student outcomes.

The rising cost of course materials over the last 20 years has had a negative impact on student finances, higher education choices, and grades. Two recent models have emerged to help increase student access to course materials while driving down acquisition costs – third party open educational resources and publisher content driven inclusive access programs. The potential impact of open educational resources on student outcomes has been widely studied. However, the potential impact of inclusive access programs on student outcomes has been studied less so. The intent of this quantitative correlational research study was to examine the relationship of student outcomes for students who had their required course materials provided on or before the first day of class, as part of an inclusive access program, compared to students who had the responsibility of sourcing their own required course materials. Study population size was 2,550 (N=2550). Data analysis techniques used in this study include chi-square test of independence and independent t-tests with a standard p-value of .05. Results of the data analysis revealed varying improvement in the increase in the number and percentages of students who passed a class with a letter grade ‘C’ or better when their required course materials were provided as part of an inclusive access program, compared to students who had the responsibility of sourcing their own required course materials. Furthermore, the results of chi-square and t-tests, provided insight into any statistically significant relationships between student populations who were enrolled in courses using an inclusive access program and student populations who had the responsibility to source their own required course materials.

In higher education, course materials are experiencing an active disruption. This disruption is coming from equitable access, a course materials intervention model aimed at reducing the cost of and increasing access to course materials for students. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of an equitable access course materials model and its effect on student course completion rates. This study had a total population of 48,967. The analysis documented statistically significant differences between the before and after equitable access implementation samples for seven of the twelve categories examined. Black students (+1.75%), Pell grant students (+1.67%). Male students (+1.82%), Native American students (+16.51%), and Students Age ≥ 25 (+2.44%) had the largest increase in course completion rates when comparing the before and after equitable access implementation populations.