What is ZTC and SB1359?
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.
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.