ZTC stands for Zero Textbook Costs and it's part of a state law that was enacted a few years ago (SB1359) designed to make textbook costs more transparent to students.
Under the law, all public institutions in California are required to clearly highlight in the online class schedule when courses use free learning materials. At CRC, the ZTC symbol is attached to a course when faculty members self-report through the online form: Zero Textbook Cost Courses.
However, there are some major flaws with this system because instructors and textbook information can change and the information that is published is sometimes incorrect. This can result in students purchasing expensive materials that aren't required or falsely thinking they do not need a textbook, when there actually is required commercial material for the course.
It is critical that faculty respond to calls from the bookstore to update their required textbook list. This should be done every semester, regardless of whether you've changed your textbook adoption and even if you're using OER or other no-cost to students material. It's also just good practice to check the class schedule each semester to make sure the published information is correct.
Help Spread the Word
The CRC Library has created several videos to promote ZTC and to show students how to find ZTC courses. Please consider sharing these with your students: