Alamo Colleges District, Texas State set to receive $285K in grants toward educational resources

August 18, 2026 - 11:34

Two higher education institutions in the San Antonio region are getting a financial boost from the state to expand free learning materials for students. The Alamo Colleges District and Texas State University will share roughly 285,000 dollars in grant funding aimed at reducing the cost of textbooks and course resources.

The money comes from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which has been pushing for wider use of open educational resources, or OER. These are materials that are freely available online and can be used, adapted, and shared without the usual copyright restrictions. The goal is to cut down on the financial burden that expensive textbooks place on students, many of whom already struggle with tuition and living costs.

Alamo Colleges will use its portion of the grant to develop and expand OER courses across its five colleges. The district has already been a leader in this area, with a number of classes already using free materials. The new funding will allow faculty to create more digital resources and train instructors on how to integrate them effectively.

Texas State, located in San Marcos, plans to focus on scaling up its existing OER efforts. The university will work on identifying high-enrollment courses where switching to free materials can have the biggest impact. That way, thousands of students could see savings in the next few semesters.

Officials from both institutions say the grants are a step toward making college more affordable. They also note that students who have access to free materials on the first day of class are more likely to succeed and stay enrolled. The funding is part of a larger statewide push to make higher education more accessible and equitable for all Texans.