Highlights
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UCF’s AIM initiative has saved students more than $50 million over the past six years, helping remove one of the most significant barriers to academic success.
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AIM empowers faculty to design engaging, accessible and interactive courses by providing support and resources to adopt free or low-cost instructional materials.
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This year, a record 1,519 faculty members were recognized at the 2026 AIM High Impact Awards, highlighting their dedication to keeping course materials affordable and supporting student success across UCF.
A college education should provide lifelong benefits — not lifelong debt.
At UCF, that belief extends beyond tuition costs to the often-overlooked costs that add up fast: textbooks, access codes and digital platforms that can cost hundreds of dollars per course.
Faced with those expenses, students make compromises. Buy the materials or pay for essentials. Get the book late — or not at all. Those choices can jeopardize academic success before classes even begin.
Through the Affordable Instructional Materials (AIM) initiative, UCF is supporting faculty in replacing those obstacles with free or low-cost instructional materials, ensuring students start each semester prepared to succeed academically.
And the impact is undeniable.
Since 2019, AIM has saved UCF students over $50 million in instructional materials costs — money that can go toward expenses such as housing, groceries and transportation.
A University-Wide Effort
AIM isn’t the work of a single office or program. It’s a university-wide collaboration that brings together the Division of Digital Learning, UCF Libraries, the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs, the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, the UCF Bookstore and other university stakeholders — all aligned around one shared goal: support faculty so that they can better support students.
In 2025 alone, 18,878 course sections — representing 76.5% of all sections offered — utilized low- or no-cost course materials.
Formally established in 2019 under the provost’s sponsorship, AIM was created to bring structure and cohesion to affordability efforts already happening across campus. What emerged is a strategic, student-centered movement that proves affordability, innovation and academic excellence aren’t competing priorities, but complementary ones.
“Our faculty are leading in ways that make access real for students,” says Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs John Buckwalter. “The numbers tell one part of the story, but behind every savings figure is a student whose experience is shaped by faculty care, creativity and commitment. That’s the kind of impact that lasts and is worth investing in.”
At its core, AIM focuses on efforts in four areas: First day, open educational resources, library-sourced materials and affordability counts. Together, these efforts remove blocks to required educational content while giving faculty the flexibility to design courses that are more interactive, accessible and connected to real-world relevance.
In practice, that means more dynamic learning experiences — curated readings, videos, case studies and instructor-created materials that meet students where they are.
Honoring Faculty Advancing Affordable Learning
That work was celebrated on Feb. 3 during the 2026 AIM High Impact Awards, which recognized faculty and staff across UCF who are committed to keeping course materials affordable for students.
The awards do more than acknowledge past efforts — they highlight what’s possible and encourage more faculty to participate. This year, 1,519 faculty members were honored, the most ever recognized in a single calendar year, signaling just how deeply AIM has taken hold across UCF.
Award nominations are grounded in real outcomes and incorporate student feedback and impact stories. Faculty may be nominated by peers or self-nominate, with categories honoring use of affordable instructional materials for more than two years (Legacy) or fewer than two years (Rising). Students across UCF nominate faculty members for the Knights’ Choice Award based on their courses and experience, and the nominees are evaluated by officers of the Student Government Association.
Read on to learn more about the outstanding work of this year’s honorees.
Individual Rising Award
Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Debaleena Majumdar received recognition for developing EVR 3733: Introduction to Sustainable Design in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, a course that covers topics ranging from the sustainable built environment and ecological design to resilience and decarbonization.
Majumdar curated a mix of zero-cost resources — including 14 library eBook chapters, six scholarly articles, 14 videos, and 12 web-based resources — organized through Leganto, a Canvas tool supported by UCF Libraries.
The result: eliminated course material costs across multiple semesters while maintaining high standards for quality, accessibility and engagement. Her course earned both the Affordability Counts medallion and Quality Online course designation within the State University System of Florida.
Beyond her own classroom, Majumdar is helping other faculty adopt similar approaches by presenting her course at the Technology Expo and including her insights in a case study that demonstrates how Leganto can help organize affordable course reading lists.
Individual Legacy Award
Associate Professor of Engineering Samar Younes was recognized for her innovative use of open educational resources, UCF Library resources, first day materials, and instructor-created content across multiple civil, environmental, and construction engineering courses.
During the submission period, her work benefited 1,776 students by providing free or discounted access to course materials and generated approximately $371,061 in cost savings. But what set her nomination apart was how intentionally she redesigned learning itself.
Younes created a free YouTube instructional channel featuring step-by-step problem-solving videos, LinkedIn Learning micro-courses and artificial intelligence-generated interactive practice tools, giving students multiple ways to master complex engineering concepts without added expense.
“Professor Younes is by far one of the best professors I have had the honor of learning under at UCF,” says a student who took her Construction Equipment and Productivity course during the Spring 2022 semester. “She … does so much to personalize and create her own learning material.”
As her department’s accreditation coordinator, Younes champions these practices beyond her own courses through presentations and collaborative leadership, building a culture in which colleagues look to her example to adopt accessible, affordable instructional materials.
Group Legacy Award
The First-Year Composition Program (ENC 1101 and ENC 1102) in the College of Arts and Humanities demonstrated what affordability looks like at scale.
Between Spring 2023 and Fall 2025, the First-Year Composition Program served more than 17,700 students and generated over $2.6 million in cumulative textbook cost savings.
By partnering with UCF Libraries, associate instructors Stuart Dees and Lissa Pompos Mansfield, Instructor Meeghan Faulconer, Associate Lecturer Pamela Baker and Associate Professor Shane Wood replaced traditional textbooks with no-cost, accessible materials delivered through Canvas. Their efforts have reduced course material costs to $0 per student.
To support consistency and quality across the program, faculty also created a shared hub in Canvas where readings aligned with course learning outcomes are available to all instructors, enabling access to high-quality, affordable materials. They also meet regularly with a librarian to curate materials and develop discipline-specific library collections.
Knights’ Choice Award
Nicholson School of Communication and Media lecturer Joseph Wachowski was nominated by his students for his commitment to providing free, accessible course materials.
During the award ceremony, Shivani Vakharia, academic affairs coordinator for UCF’s Student Government Association, highlighted Wachowski’s forward-thinking approach to course design and the tangible impact his work has had on students.
“Professor Joseph Wachowski is being honored for his dedication to developing and supporting affordable course materials, helping remove financial obstacles for students and fostering collaboration across the academic community,” Vakharia says. “The university and its students recognize and appreciate his lasting contributions to innovation, equity and student success.”
Together, these awardees represent the heart of AIM: faculty innovation backed by institutional support, all in service of student success.
Faculty interested in learning more about AIM or seeking support can email affordable@ucf.edu.
