Lengthy lines and scrambling students could potentially disappear from bookstores at the beginning of a new semester as a result of federal legislation.
The legislation requires universities to make lists of course materials available to students by the opening of the enrollment process. The new system, which was discussed Tuesday during an Academic Council meeting, could be in operation by July 2010.
When the fall 2008 semester began, only 4,185 of 11,279 scheduled sections had reported required course materials to bookstores.
“The goal of this is … really to make students aware of the cost of taking a course,” said Linda Stanford, associate provost for academic services and university registrar, during the meeting.
But engineering senior Brian Sienkowski said having information about textbook requirements available would not influence his decisions while scheduling for courses.
“How I see it, if I don’t have the money, I’m just not going to buy the books,” Sienkowski said.
And some classes are unavoidable, studio art senior Brandon Washington said.
“Depending on what major you’re in, some classes you need to take to graduate,” he said.
“You’re going to have to spend the money, either way.”
The only real advantage is to be able to plan ahead how much money will need to be spent in the upcoming semester, Washington said.
The registrar’s office will work this summer to develop an online system to collect textbook information, said Scott Owczarek, associate registrar for registration services.
“We will work on developing that system from now until end of 2009, hoping to make that available by end of 2009,” he said. “(That way), we can get as much information as possible by the time enrollment begins in April 2010.”
The new system will not prevent students from ordering books from online providers, such as Amazon.com, Owczarek said.
“The federal legislation just requires us to display the information on our site,” he said. “It’s not requiring you to work specifically with the bookstores.”
If the university does not comply with the federal legislation, it could lose the money it receives from the federal government, much of which goes to students’ financial aid, Provost Kim Wilcox said during the meeting.
“It’s not something I know anyone at the university level thinks is a good idea, but nonetheless, it’s not our choice,” Wilcox said. “This is one of those situations where it’s federal law.”
Stanford, a professor in the Department of Art and Art History, said that she knows how hard it is to determine a fall book list this early.
“In the first week in April, you’re working on reading term papers and preparing for finals and so forth,” she said. “But it’s important to have as much information out there as possible.”
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