Hillsdale students will skip the semesterly search for the lowest textbook prices starting fall 2023 as the college will begin including class materials in the price of tuition. 

“Students and their parents will no longer need to spend time and energy tracking down every book for their classes,” said Doug Banbury, Hillsdale’s vice president for admissions and business development. 

“No more navigating discount sites and Amazon —  simply register for classes and your books will be ready for you prior to the start of class.”

Funding for the new plan will come from a series of tuition increases of less than 1% per year. Starting this fall, the program plans to implement an annual rise in tuition of less than $300, which totals approximately $900 after four to seven years of increases, said Matt Hazelton, director of staff & operations for business development.

“If you were to buy every single book for all of your classes, at full retail price, from the bookstore, it would cost something like $1,400 on average a year,” Hazelton said. “If you do that through this program, it’s something like $800-900, so there are definitely discounts in that sense per student.”

Including textbooks in tuition creates more payment options for students, according to Hazelton. 

“Having it embedded in the tuition makes it eligible for scholarships and loans in a way that you currently couldn’t do with your textbooks,” he said.

To implement the program, the college will partner with textbook provider Slingshot, which has served more than 40 colleges for the last 12 years, including other small, Christian colleges in the Midwest. Slingshot’s size and relationship with book vendors allows it to get discounts on books, which will benefit Hillsdale students, Banbury said.

Banbury said the company is a good fit for the college.

“Slingshot is an ideologically-aligned, missional partner who has a heart for service and innovation,” Banbury said. “They pride themselves on providing a top-notch student experience at the best cost to the institution.”

After consulting the class registration of students, Slingshot will package and deliver required textbooks to a student’s dorm room. Off-campus students will pick up their orders from a centralized location. Slingshot has overnight shipping options and will provide a small quantity of books to the college bookstore for students who drop or add a class last minute. Students on WHIP will receive their books in D.C. 

“Every two years, we will price out the previous semester’s textbook cost with Slingshot compared to other textbook distributors to assure we are getting the best prices,” Patrick Flannery, vice president of finance and college treasurer said.

The bookstore will continue its textbook buy-back program at the end of each semester. Students can also sell their books on the open market. 

Junior Emma Widmer said she is concerned the program will leave students with unwanted books.

“I feel like this could create an unnecessary amount of waste with people buying books instead of passing them down,” she said. “Especially if I am already paying for them, I would want to get what I am paying for, but then there is no need to get and keep books every semester if you never use them again.”

The first few years of the program will be experimental, Banbury said.

“I look at this as a beta test over the next three to four years,” Banbury said. “So in a couple years, I’m going to take what we have paid in those books, and then I’m gonna go out in the market to two other vendors and compare shop. That way we can see if we’re actually realizing that much savings, and the hope is that we will.” 

Banbury said he had the idea for the program after watching his wife and sophomore daughter reaping negligible savings despite spending hours searching for the lowest textbook prices online. He asked students and professors about a tuition-inclusive textbook plan and received positive feedback. 

“They think it’s going to eliminate a giant hassle — tracking down books and procuring the books,” Banbury said. “It’s going to be good for the bookstore because we’re going to work with a vendor and partner with them to provide all the books for the students.”

The program may evolve after a few years as the college measures textbook price differences between majors, but all students regardless of major will save money during the first few years of the program, Banbury said. 

“If there’s a significant textbook price difference between majors over the course of their time here at Hillsdale, then we may have some implementations down the road for some of those majors,” Banbury said. “But our first initial step is to have a successful launch next fall.” 

Widmer said she is skeptical that the program will save money.

“I usually get my books for a fraction of what the bookstore charges, so I don’t love the idea of tuition increasing if I can get all my textbooks for $30 online,” she said. “As an art major, I only had to buy one book that I got for $3, and the rest was art supplies. Plus, I could use science textbooks I already had.”

Banbury said seniors will save the most money because they will pay small tuition increases for their remaining two semesters and receive all of their textbooks. Estimates show current sophomores saving more than $1,100 in book expenses during the duration of their Hillsdale education, according to Banbury. 

Research shows students who are prepared for class with the assigned textbooks have more success and less stress, according to Hazelton and Banbury. 

“It’s a frustrating point for some professors when students don’t have their books,” Banbury said. 

Hazelton encouraged students to give the new program a chance. 

“It really is a convenience and student experience focused thing,” Hazelton said. “We have a lot of feedback from people who have experienced this, and it really improves especially your freshman experience.”