Federal law aims to help students on scholarships buy books

Some UNC professors may be breaking a federal law without realizing it — and University officials say there’s not much they can do to enforce it.

According to the Higher Education Opportunities Act, any university receiving federal aid must make public all textbooks used for every course each semester.

The law requires that information about all textbooks used in UNC courses be available in the University’s Student Stores.

George Morgan, textbook buyer at UNC Student Stores , said it’s important for the store to carry every textbook a student might need, because some students have scholarship money that can only be used for textbooks at Student Stores.

About 43 percent of UNC students received need-based aid in 2012-13.

Morgan said he places orders for the textbooks requested by professors each semester. He said professors are responsible for reporting their textbooks to Student Stores, which is the official party responsible for keeping track of and posting the list of textbooks.

But Morgan said it’s common for professors to fail to report their textbooks to Student Stores. Professors might mistakenly assume that their request rolls over to the next semester, or they might have difficulty using the Student Stores’ online request form, Morgan said.

“Sometimes it’s an honest mistake,” Morgan said.

Kelly Hanner, textbook manager at Student Stores, said new faculty might not be aware of the policy. She said it’s the responsibility of department chairs to educate faculty about the policy during orientation.

Morgan said enforcing the policy is tricky because it’s hard to find out about textbooks that are unreported.

He said students sometimes inform Student Stores of a required textbook not available in Student Stores, in which case staff members tell these students to talk to the professor.

“If we find out from some other means, then we ask the professor to contact us,” he said. “In the end it’s really up to the professor to let us know. We can’t make them do it.”

Cathy Packer, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication , said she requires an online media law handbook that can’t be purchased through Student Stores. The textbook used to be published in print and sold in Student Stores but is now only available online.

Packer, who is the book’s editor, said it costs about $35 to access the text online. She said the online textbook has many advantages, including the ability to make corrections or update it at any time.

“We think it’s great,” Packer said. “We think that’s progress.”

Packer said she did not know that professors were required to make their textbooks available through Student Stores.

“I’ve never had anybody complain about it,” she said.

Economics professor Gary Biglaiser also said he wasn’t aware of the policy and has observed that students prefer to buy textbooks through other vendors.

“Most students don’t buy from Student Stores because it’s expensive,” he said.

Evelyne Huber, chairwoman of the political science department, said she does what she can to enforce the policy among the faculty under her.

“In our department we circulate the emails from the bookstores with the numbers on who has reported, and we urge them to do that,” she said.

Some professors might assign books from sources outside of Student Stores, such as local bookstores, in order to support the community, said Katie Yow, a co-manager at the Internationalist Books and Community Center on Franklin Street.

Yow said it’s important for students to have alternative sources for textbooks. She said professors with community-oriented classes often direct students to buy textbooks from Internationalist Books, a nonprofit, volunteer-run bookshop.

“Textbooks represent a small but very important part of our overall sales,” she said in an email. “We work directly with progressive professors who want to give their students the option to have their textbook purchases support the Internationalist.”

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