For the next several years, incoming first-year students will receive free textbooks. While this is a good way to recruit potential students, it leaves us poor upperclassmen to fend for ourselves.
Under this new “book scholarship program,” if a prospective student completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, makes an official visit to campus and is accepted into the school, all by Mar. 1 of that year, he/she will receive $4,000 toward books over four years.
An estimated 75 percent of this year’s incoming students will take advantage of this program, which will cost UD an estimated $1.5 million dollars annually, according to a University of Dayton
press release.
I get it. This will encourage a lot of good things. Families will see this place and realize it’s perfect for their kids. It will motivate people to apply for and receive federal aid, no matter how little the government might offer. And it will be one less headache for parents and students alike when it comes to buying books every semester. It is an ideal move in this
rough economy.
But what about us, the Flyer Faithful who are already here?
I sure would love some free
books, too.
An opportunity to spend my hard-earned, summer job money on weekends and food rather than pay $200 for a chemistry book that I’ll resell later for ten bucks? Count me in.
Now, I’m not calling this out because I don’t think the new students deserve it. By all means, give students incentive to realize there is no better school than UD. My point is that many of us who work extra hard to be able to afford an education at this institution (and pay for things such as books) deserve a little bit too.
It would be foolish of me to suggest that upperclassmen should suddenly receive a voucher for free books for the rest of their time at UD. That is simply not possible with the number of students currently attending school here. However, I would go through any application process to get any sort of “discount” if it meant forgetting about sifting through cheapesttextbooks.com to find the
best deal.
My suggestion is for UD to throw us upperclassmen a bone, an opportunity to redeem free books. How about an extensive application process that evaluates what each student has done over their year(s) at UD? Let’s say if you have a 3.5 GPA or higher, you get free books. If your GPA is not that high but you participate in three clubs or more, you get free books.
Yes, that’s a tough case-by-case evaluation process, but a process that would be worth it nonetheless. If that type of application does not work, I know for a fact based on surveying fellow students that many people would do community service to pay for their books.
I believe that all students deserve financial stability, and I would hope that UD did not forget about its upperclassmen in the process of forming this program.
