Information for Students
Marking affordable courses, those that use no cost — $0 and low cost course materials — less than $45, is an effort supported by KU Student Senate and campus partners to help students navigate a complex course materials landscape.
Starting in the Spring 2021 enrollment period — mid-Fall 2020, two tools that students use to identify potential courses of interest, Enroll & Pay and classes.ku.edu, will include information to help students budget for textbooks and related materials — coursepacks, homework systems, etc.
How courses are marked
Those courses identified as affordable will be thus marked in two places: classes.ku.edu and Enroll & Pay.
The Enroll & Pay markers are textual: “No Cost” and “Low Cost”.
The classes.ku.edu markers are visual, using a series of simple icons designed by KU IT, which appear in the Credit Hours column.
The No Cost icon is a blue book marked with a white zero “0”. A course marked with the No Cost icon has zero required course material costs.
The Low Cost icon is a blue book marked with a white capital letter “L”. A course marked with the Low Cost icon has a cumulative required course material cost of less than $45.
The Default icon is a black book marked with a white dollar sign “$”. A course marked with the Default icon has a cumulative required course material cost equal to or greater than $45. Courses not reporting any information will be marked with the Default icon.
The absence of an icon indicates a course type that is typically not associated with required course materials, such as Discussion (DIS) sections. In unique circumstances, materials may be required despite the lack of an icon, such as if an internship includes required books or other materials.
How to use affordable course markings
Browse or search for courses in Enroll & Pay and/or classes.ku.edu, noting the icons or textual attributes.
To search for affordable course sections in classes.ku.edu
- Select the Options button on the right side of the page
- With Options displaying, select the fifth drop down box on the left side of screen
- Select from three choices:
- Any textbook options
- No Course Materials Cost
- Low or No Course Materials Cost
The default setting, Any textbook options, displays all course sections and associated icons — or lack thereof if course type is one of those typically not associated with materials, such as Discussion sections. In other words, this setting is not searching by affordability.
If No Course Material Cost is selected, only those course sections with the No Cost icon will be displayed.
If Low or No Course Materials Cost is selected, course sections with both the No Cost and Low Cost icons will display.
With course section numbers in hand, register at Enroll & Pay as normal.
Feedback
The Course Marking Project Team is committed to make every effort to reflect student, faculty, & staff needs & feedback in design, implementation, and future development. We’re seeking to provide clear guidelines, training, and information to all parties, and to streamline participation by leveraging existing platforms and processes.
If course markings are helpful to you, please let us know!
If you enroll in a course that uses no cost or low cost textbooks and related materials, thank your instructor! There’s a good chance they have done significant extra work to lessen the cost of the course.