a 2009 "new york times" article reported that college students spend between $700 and $1,000 annually on textbooks. full-time tuition in the washington system is approximately $3,000 annually, with textbooks costing approximately $1,000 annually. community college tuition is lower than at most traditional four year institutions, and, therefore, textbook costs may be proportionally higher. any number of digital copies of a free textbook can be made for the price of one. print-on demand copies generally cost under $10. representative reuven carlyle (d-seattle, washington house of representatives) estimates that because of ocl community college students saved over $1.25 million in textbook costs during the 2011-2012 school year. ocl seeks to contribute to the creation of better courses and to reduce costs for students. in this way it seeks to respond positively to the "completion" concerns outlined in the state's tipping point research report of 2008. on 17 june 2010 the washington state board for community & technical colleges (sbctc) approved a state-level open licensing policy. all digital works created using grant funds administered by sbctc must now carry a creative commons attribution-only (cc by) license. this license allows materials created by one institution to be updated by another. it was within this context that ocl was launched in 2010. nicole allen, a textbook advocate for the national student public interest research group (pirg) commended the state for putting its money where its mouth is.