Behind The Scenes On The Bobcat Book Bundle: The Truth Behind The Controversial Program

According to the Pitt-Greensburg campus store website, the “Bobcat Book Bundle is a course materials delivery program that lowers the cost of course materials and ensures students have their required course materials on the first day of class.” At least, that’s what it claims. But, many students and professors have controversial views towards it due to the cost per credit regardless of how many books are actually being obtained.

Caitlin Cruser, senior Creative and Professional Writing major, says, “I think to call it a service is dramatic, because if a bully takes your lunch money and gives you the chocolate milk off the tray, are you gonna call that a service just because they gave you the chocolate milk even though they stole your money for the meal.”

Before the Bobcat Book Bundle, university bookstore employees had to go out and get textbook orders from faculty. The bookstore employees then had to be sure that all course materials were available for students before each semester. This process sometimes resulted in higher costs for students, according to Ronna Colland, director of Finance and Risk Management.  

The Bobcat Book Bundle program was introduced to Pitt-Greensburg in the fall of 2020 after campus administration decided they wanted students to be able to get books cheaper. According to Colland, the university put out a request for proposals from book companies, and several companies provided possible solutions. Eventually the committee chose Barnes & Noble College to offer the bundle service.

“Barnes & Noble College reviewed our course material list,” Colland says. “All faculty had to provide what course materials they were going to use, if they were using any. Barnes & Noble then did an estimate of what would be a good cost per credit.”

Barnes & Noble College corporate, not the bookstore itself, decided on the price of $24.25 per credit, which means for a three-credit class students’ book cost would be $72.75. For a full-credit load of 15 credits, the total cost would be $363.75. All full-time and part-time students are automatically enrolled in and charged for the Bobcat Book Bundle every semester. 

Students, other than a select few majors including Nursing, do have the option of opting out of the program by completing this form before the last day of add/drop. The charges for the course materials for those who opt out are refunded to the student’s eRefund bank account or via check.

Barnes & Noble College corporate calculated that this price would be more affordable than the cost students would pay for individual textbooks. Bundling also is designed to prevent students from not purchasing required course materials.  

Bill Fabyanic, manager of Pitt-Greensburg’s campus bookstore, says that although the pricing decision was made by Barnes & Noble College corporate and that he has no control over that, he feels the bundle is a good deal. 

“Some students choose to find the materials on their own for whatever reason. I’m sure there’s dozens of them, but that’s why we do have the opt-out option,” Fabyanic says. “I do think that the bundle is beneficial for students, though. I think it’s an excellent program. To me, it’s just the pure convenience of it.”

However, not all students agree, particularly because not all majors’ textbooks and materials are equally expensive. 

Breanna Tomsey, president of the Student Government Association and senior Public Policy major, says, “Every semester I have chosen to opt out of it simply because of the cost factors. It was cheaper for me to opt out than to stay in. I know that’s not the same for all majors, but for mine it was.”

Majors, such as those in the humanities, generally require fewer textbooks and more novels. Students and professors in these majors have been finding alternative, cheaper ways of acquiring course materials. Cruser, Tomsey, and Assistant Professor of English Dr. Sean DiLeonardi all recommend ThriftBooks as their go-to reliable source for required materials.

“It sounds like on average it would save you a few bucks for classes with expensive textbooks and it would overcharge you quite a bit for classes like mine,” DiLeonardi says. “Even in my Modernism class, we read three novels that you could probably get off ThriftBooks for $30 altogether. So, yeah, you’re being overcharged quite a bit.”

Through the Bobcat Book Bundle, the students enrolled have the options to have their materials delivered to their dorm or are available to be picked up at the bookstore. All materials that have been required by the professors, whether physical or digital, are provided to students through the program. The required course materials are also available for students on their first day of classes.

“I just think that it has really turned out to be a very good program that we’re finding is saving the students a significant amount of money, and the ability to have your textbook on the first day of class is huge,” Colland says.

The Bobcat Book Bundle follows through on its promises to have all required materials ready for students on the first day of class with easy access. The cost per credit controversy has too many variables to accurately determine what is cheapest for every student. In the end, the fault, according to DiLeonardi,  falls not on the faculty, the staff, or the bookstore, but rather good, ol’ corporate greed.

“To summarize my whole point – textbook companies are evil, Barnes & Noble College corporate is evil,” Dr. DiLeonardi says.