Course materials adoption tool

The University is initiating a tool that will allow instructors to identify all course materials (books, technology, supplies, other tools) needed for their courses. The tool will link to the Athena/Banner registration system and aggregate across all of a student’s courses, so they can see the total cost of materials for the semester if they purchase from the UGA Bookstore. If a student wishes, they can choose to purchase from the bookstore with one click and elect to pick the materials up or have them delivered. Students do not have to purchase any or all of their materials from the UGA Bookstore; they can shop anywhere they choose. The UGA Bookstore will price match with Amazon and other online stores, as well as brick and mortar stores, and will issue students refunds if they find an item that is less expensive elsewhere.

In addition to transparency with students, this new tool will provide and aggregate course material information that is necessary to comply with federal rules related to sharing cost of attendance with students and their parents and to assess how well we are meeting the University System of Georgia’s goals of increasing the percentage of low- and no-cost courses.

This process will roll out in the spring, and the College will share information with everyone as that information becomes available. We anticipate having a staff member in each unit trained by the bookstore to collect ISBN numbers for materials by course and instructor. We need to be intentional about informing part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants about course materials. The University will be using the old system for spring 2025 and summer 2025. The deadline for submitting spring 2025 instructional materials to the UGA Bookstore is Tuesday, Oct. 15.

You can send your information by logging on to the UGA Bookstore website or emailing textbook@uga.edu.