Jiselle Santos/The Cougar
To make textbooks cheaper and more accessible to students, the Cougar Textbook Access Program has been officially integrated for spring 2023.
CTAP piloted in spring 2022 in 48 sections, with spring 2023 carrying 386 classes. The discounted prices of required materials range from $10-110, with the materials being available by the first day of class.
The estimated total savings of all three semesters is over $1 million, with books discounted up to 54 percent.
“Publishers are incentivized to give us the best pricing that they can because they know that they’re going to end up getting 90 percent of the students who are going to be purchasing the materials,” said executive director of auxiliary services Deborah Huebler.
All students are automatically in the program, but they can also opt-out if they’ve found the materials elsewhere or just decided they no longer need them. Students can opt-in and out as much as they’d like until the 12th day of class.
After the official reporting day, students will be unable to receive their materials through CTAP if they opted out.
While not all classes are available through CTAP, students can use the search function on their website and enter their course ID and section number to see if any of the classes they are enrolled in next semester are part of the program.
Aside from the large amount in savings, another benefit of this program is that the fees are billed to your student account, meaning scholarships and financial aid can be used to cover the payment.
“You don’t have to wait for the refund to purchase your materials,” Huebler said. “And to me, that’s one of the biggest advantages of the program.”
Emails with information on the program are being sent out in waves to students who are registered for class participating in CTAP, and students are able to receive their class materials before the semester starts.
The received materials are available solely digitally, but some students, like English junior Thomas Martinez, suggest adding an option to choose from the different forms.
“Virtual can be really helpful when I need to find something fast but physical is more accessible,” Martinez said.
As far as the program as a whole, Martinez feels he and other students will benefit from this program, but also thinks there should be more organization in giving students information since not many are aware of the program.
“I am in financial need, living paycheck to paycheck, so discounted textbooks will allow me to put additional money to good use,” Martinez said.
