Hawks Book Bundle Makes Bookstore Lines a Thing of the Past
The days of standing in line at the bookstore are over, thanks to the new Hawks Book Bundle program.
For a flat fee of $360 for full-time and $180 for part-time, students can rent all their textbooks and course materials for the semester – no matter what their major.
“For example, a nursing student might spend $1,000 a semester for books,” said Aaron Tolbert, assistant vice president for academic affairs. “In the old method of book buying, if students don’t want to keep them, they have to do the work of selling them. The Hawks Book Bundle means they rent the books and return them at the end of the semester.”
As soon as a student puts in their course schedule, Barnes and Noble will put together a box containing all of their course materials, then ship the bundle to Hartwick for students to pick up when they arrive.
Switching a class? No worries – take the book back to the bookstore and they’ll swap it out for another class at no extra charge.
Students can choose to opt-out before the start of each semester, Tolbert said.
But more than just a cost-saving measure, it’s about student equity. “Pell-eligible students have to wait as long as five weeks to get the reimbursement so that they have money to buy books,” said Tolbert. “That’s five weeks of class where those students don’t have equitable learning outcomes. Now, everyone will have their books on the same day.”
He continued, “It’s about giving all of our students the same genuine opportunities to learn.”
The Hawks Book Bundle is set to launch spring ‘24.
