Student Services

Honors Program

Honors ZTC

We know that accessibility is key for many of our Honors Program students, and one of the issues that students have consistently mentioned are costs associated with their time at Norco College. More than 50% of our Honors Program population utilizes some form of financial aid, and while students can enter into the program, there may be associated costs within the courses themselves that may prove a challenge.

Such costs may end up affecting students by:

Limiting particular Honors course options available.
Limiting a student's ability to selecting instructors teaching Honors courses.
Extending their time within the Program (affecting retention and success).
Impacting their ability to transfer within their own timeframe.
Hampering Honors students academic progress

For these reasons, the Honors Program at Norco College is excited to announce an Honors ZTC pathway starting in Fall 2026 (estimated).

Ultimately, ZTC stands for "Zero Text Cost" and it is a signal to students that take these courses, that there will be no associated costs of a text passed on to their students at a minimum; however, many other associated costs tend to not be passed on to students that take these courses either beyond what is usually expected.

This can vary from each instructor, but ultimately the idea behind this is to ensure that students taking ZTC courses do not have to purchase items, software, texts, etc, in order for their course to function. This means that instructors can utilize free textbooks, PowerPoint lectures, supplemental materials, and more--as long as these materials are not passed on to students.

Example: A math course needing a specific type of software for the class to operate with? If the course is ZTC, that cost should not be passed on to the student.

Example: An English course that would typically have a writing text and associated reader? If the course is ZTC, that cost should not be passed on to the student.

This will be dependent upon the instructors that teach the course to make that call; however, this pathway will have identified specific courses that will be ZTC over a 2-year cycle. In this way, any student who may enroll into the Honors Program, will be able to forecast the specific courses that will be ZTC, and when to expect their offerings over their time at Norco College.

While this is still being worked on (and is, somewhat, estimated to begin in Fall 2026), the courses that are being identified are reflected in the Economics ADT pathway. This means that students who are interested in pursuing an Associates Degree in Economics will have these courses offered in ZTC:

ECO-7H
ECO-8H
PSYC-C1000H
STAT-C1000H
MAT-1AH

Even if students do not plan to pursue an Associates Degree in Economics, there are additional courses that will makeup this specific Honors ZTC pathway. These courses are: