Beginning next semester, all undergraduate degree-seeking students will be automatically opted-in to Course Ready, NC State’s new digital-preferred textbook and course materials program. Students will automatically receive all required digital materials submitted by their professor on the first day of class.
Full-time and part-time students will be charged a flat rate of $279 and $179 plus sales tax respectively. This price provides complete digital access to textbooks and related course materials such as lab manuals, ebooks and WebAssign. Classes requiring a physical textbook will also be covered by the one-time purchase.
If students do not feel Course Ready benefits them, they must manually opt out of the format each semester and a credit will be applied to their student bill. Course Ready’s ultimate goal is to make education fair and available for all students by targeting concerns of financial inequity related to textbook costs.
Jeff Halliburton, the director of Wolfpack Outfitters, said one reason for implementing a flat rate for each student is to reduce the economic burden associated with certain majors.
“If a student is making a decision that they want to be a business major or an engineering major, and then they find out that they’ve got an extremely high textbook bill, we’ve seen many examples both directly and throughout with our campus peers, that students are using that to make a decision to move to a less expensive major that may have a lower course material tab,” Halliburton said.
Halliburton and his colleagues noticed students were missing cutoff dates for purchasing course materials, including applications like WebAssign which have built-in homework and quiz assignments that contribute to students’ grades.
Jennifer Gilmore, director of strategic marketing and communication at Campus Enterprises, also noted that the consistent Course Ready textbook cost should be beneficial to students and families budgeting education costs for the foreseeable future.
However, some students have expressed concerns with the roll-out of Course Ready.
Taquan Dewberry, a second-year studying computer science and philosophy and Student Senate president pro-tempore, said he believes Course Ready’s goal of subsidizing the price of textbooks is a good idea. However, he also said rolling the program out in the summer or fall of 2025 instead of spring would have given students and faculty time to adjust and prepare for the change.
“That way, people have a much longer period of time to know about it,” Dewberry said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember this being a discussion during the summer or last semester.”
Abby Lundergan, a fourth-year studying architecture and a senator for the College of Design, said she feels Course Ready disproportionately affects students in the College of Design.
Design students’ purchases for classes are predominantly physical materials, including paper, wood and concrete to create models and high-quality printing for digital creations. Course Ready does not currently cover these materials.
Lundergan estimated that design students typically spend $200 to $300 per semester, sometimes nearly $80 on one assignment. She said the most she spent in one semester was around $600.
Lundergan said one of the most important things she would like to see from the University is clear and accessible communication notifying students how they can opt out of Course Ready each semester.
Halliburton said Wolfpack Outfitters looks forward to having conversations with students, faculty and leadership in the College of Design to uncover the successes and challenges of Course Ready and the potential to redefine the program for future semesters.
As students adjust to Course Ready, Dewberry said he wants students to know they can provide feedback.
“I feel like it’s extremely important for all students to make sure that their voices are heard on this one,” Dewberry said. “Make sure, if they have concerns about it, that they’re emailing their student representatives, emailing the people in charge of the program, so that they can hear about it.”
Wolfpack Outfitters will hold tabling events in the lobby of Talley Oct. 23-24, 28-29 and Nov. 4, 7 and 13 to provide more information about Course Ready. Students are also encouraged to stop by the course materials counter on the lower level of Wolfpack Outfitters to ask questions about Course Ready.
