A college education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the burden of this cost is often felt disproportionately by marginalized students. One aspect of rising college costs are textbook prices, which have increased at a rate that far surpasses inflation. Open educational resources (OER; free, openly-licensed course materials) or Affordable Educational Resources (AER) are often proposed as a solution to this problem. Additional exploration is necessary to fully understand the influence of OER and AER on students' academic achievement. This research scrutinizes the influence of Louisiana's Affordable Learning Initiative on student academic performance at Southern University and A&M College, a public 4-year, R2 doctoral institution. To evaluate this impact, a comparative study was conducted on identical courses with sections that either utilized Open Educational Resources (OER) or Affordable Educational Resources (AER), as opposed to those that utilized traditional textbooks. The final grades in these course sections were compared as the principal measure of student performance. After conducting comprehensive statistical tests including T-tests, ANOVA, and Levene's test, the study found no significant difference in student performance across course sections. This finding suggests that the implementation of OER or AER, as part of the Affordable Learning Initiative, does not detrimentally affect student academic outcomes. Hence, these resources can be considered effective alternatives to traditional textbooks, providing opportunities for cost reduction in education without compromising academic standards. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]