AAC&U’s large study analyzed nearly 700,000 student records from 15 institutions and gathered input from over 200 instructors, making it the largest of its kind to date.

Open educational resources (OER) are linked to more than cost savings, correlating with improved student success metrics across institutions.

Beyond cost savings, the study highlights how OER benefits address broader challenges like learning outcomes, student debt, and access.

Researchers note institutional nuance: the impact of OER varies by institution type and student subgroups, so one-size-fits-all conclusions are unlikely.

The results are especially pronounced for Pell-eligible, first-generation, part-time, and historically underserved students, suggesting OER can offset multiple compounding disadvantages.

Overall, AAC&U frames OER as a high-impact institutional practice with benefits for learning, retention, time-to-degree, and equity.

Although the cognitive impact of OER versus traditional pages remains unsettled, the study emphasizes deep reading and strong learning strategies regardless of medium.

In community colleges, doctoral institutions, and tribal colleges, OER implementation is linked to reduced withdrawal rates, while in HBCUs and several private/public 4-year systems the impact on withdrawals is net neutral.

For longer-duration students facing financial and other barriers, taking at least one OER course correlated with finishing about half a year sooner for those taking longer than four years, and up to nearly a full year sooner for six or more OER courses.

Across contexts, the share of students earning A grades increased with OER adoption.