Appeal to Bard Faculty: Textbook Cost

To:  Bard Faculty Members

Dear Bard Faculty,

Because academics at Bard are the most important part of a student’s experience it is essential that every student be able to acquire the textbooks required for their classes. Due to the rising costs of a college education in these difficult economic times students must be given every opportunity to purchase their textbooks at the lowest possible cost.

Bard greatly assists students in obtaining readings for class by funding resources such as ReserveWeb and in doing so acknowledges the financial burden that course materials places on students.

However, the untimely posting of booklists by faculty exacerbates the financial burden of students for the following reasons:

1. Students cannot buy their books from Internet vendors at significantly lower prices than the on-campus bookstore.
a. The Bard bookstore only offers a limited number of used books for sale each semester, limiting the number of students who benefit from the discount.
b. These books are offered at a 25% discount, as opposed to a 75% or greater discount available at many online stores.

2. Students selling their books to the Bard bookstore will get a better price if the books have been requested for the next semester.
a. The bookstore purchases books that have been requested for the following semester at 50% of the original price.
b. The bookstore all other books at a national wholesale value, which is generally below 30% of the original price.
c. Many books that will be used in the subsequent semester are sold to the bookstore at the national wholesale value because faculty members have not yet submitted their booklists to the bookstore.

3. Providing booklists to students earlier gives them the opportunity to acquire their books from alternative means, such as social networking and the Book Exchange.
a. The bookstore website displays the books that have been requested by faculty for each class, allowing students to find their books without extra effort on the part of the professors.

By making easier to obtain used books, Bard will also lower its impact on the environment by decreasing the number of new books it consumes.

Due to these problems we, the students, implore Bard faculty members to submit their booklists to the bookstore at least two weeks prior to the end of each semester.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Appeal to Bard Faculty: Textbook Cost Petition to Bard Faculty Members was created by and written by Jeremy Carter-Gordon and Travis McGrath (jg882@bard.edu).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.