NEW ONLINE BOOKSTORE OFFERS FLEXIBILITY AND PRICE OPTIONS FOR PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS

Seamless Way to Get Textbooks - Beginning Fall 2018

The college bookstore gets a digital makeover as St. Francis College partners with online retailer, Akademos, to let students buy, rent, or download their textbooks as well as other supplemental course materials.

Beginning with the Fall 2018 semester, St. Francis students will be able to obtain their course books and materials in a seamless process that links their course management account directly to Akademos. The site will be accessible beginning August 1 at sfc.edu/bookstore.

"We are always looking for ways to give more students time to focus on their studies," said Jose Rodriguez, Dean of Students. "The partnership with Akademos takes away the headache of searching all over the web for the lowest price and gives them a one stop shop."

For faculty, once logging in with their SFC account, they will see a custom page that shows their current courses. The process of selecting books will be faster, easier, and include an option to create a custom Coursepack with textbooks and other materials. Books are searchable by ISBN or book title, and professors can also add course notes and files to the information students will see.

"We found that only about 10% of our students use the current bookstore, most students either get their materials on their own or don't buy them at all," said Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean Jennifer Lancaster. "Under the new plan, when a student logs in to their page, they will see a personalized page with all their courses and needed materials, as well as a number of options to get their books at various price points, including: new, used, peer-to-peer sales, rentals, and downloads. We believe this change will lead to more students engaging with the required and recommended coursework."

Akademos offers a price match guarantee on new books, as well as a peer-to-peer marketplace where students can buy and sell their books to each other at an average of 60% off the retail list price.

The new system will go into effect for the Fall 2018 semester with a pilot program during the final summer session.

The current relationship with Barnes & Noble ends with the Spring 2018 term. Students must return all rental books by May 8. Barnes & Noble will not be buying back old textbooks. The store will be completely vacated by May 26.

For May and summer classes, students will be able to purchase their class book and materials on websites including: bn.com; chegg.com; or amazon.com.

St. Francis College, founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, is located in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Since its founding, the College has pursued its Franciscan mission to provide an affordable, high-quality education to students from New York City's five boroughs and beyond.

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St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
www.sfc.edu