College Launches New Course Material Delivery Program

The College of Charleston, in partnership with Barnes & Noble at the College of Charleston, is launching Cougar Complete, a new course material delivery program for undergraduate degree-seeking students. Cougar Complete provides students with access to their required course materials in a convenient package by the first day of class.

With this new program, all required course materials are available as a course charge of $22 per credit hour (instead of by the book). The mission is both equity and access. Cougar Complete will begin with the fall 2023 semester.

“The Barnes and Noble Cougar Complete program is designed to provide equitable access to course materials, increase student retention and result in financial savings for our students,” says Suzanne Austin, executive vice president for Academic Affairs and provost. “For faculty members, nothing has changed, including the deadline of May 1 for submissions of book orders. Textbook adoptions have always been critical to student success and the sooner students have access to course materials, the greater their success in their courses.”

How It Works:

Students register for classes, which automatically enrolls them in the program. Before classes start, they’ll get an email asking them to verify courses and how they’d like to get their materials. The College of Charleston Bookstore puts everything together and students are notified when their order is ready for pickup or is shipped. Digital orders are delivered to OAKS. Students can opt out of the program by Drop/Add, should they choose. (They can also opt back in, of course.) As classes wrap up, the bookstore sends helpful reminder emails to return all rental course materials.

Faculty can contribute to the success of the program by submitting their course material selections to the bookstore ahead of the adoption deadline each semester. There are no restrictions to the course materials faculty may select for their courses. All course materials, from any publisher, in a faculty member’s preferred format are included in the program.

“I’ve been with the College of Charleston Bookstore for a long time, and we’ve always strived to provide excellent customer service to our students, so I’m particularly excited to offer students this even more convenient, affordable way to get all their course materials,” says Stephen Jones, general manager of the College of Charleston Bookstore.

Be on the lookout for more communications about the program. To learn more about the Cougar Complete program, visit go.cofc.edu/cougar-complete.