Benefactors’ Generosity Yields
Richer Classroom Discussions

“A great book can be read many times, and each time the reader can discover something new,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean. “We want our students, in the years to come, to go beyond their first readings. We want them to keep these books, to re-read them, and to ponder them.”

In the interest of helping students build up their own, personal libraries of great books, the College began in 2012 to provide all required texts, free of charge, to students at the start of each academic year. Three years later, the program has proven to be a significant cost-saver for students and their families, and a boon to classroom conversations.

Student Savings

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college textbook prices have soared over the last two decades, increasing at more than three times the rate of inflation. The College Board estimates that, on average, American college students spend $1,200 per year on textbooks.

“Because our students read only original works, our texts are much less expensive than standard textbooks,” says Dr. McLean. The cost of furnishing the College’s students with their required texts comes to about $500 per student, per year. “It is a great help to our families. They can rest assured that when their children arrive on campus, they won’t be saddled with additional expenses.”

The decision to provide the books at no additional cost has increased the College’s annual budget by approximately $180,000 per year. “We are very grateful to the College’s benefactors, whose generosity makes it possible for us to provide our students with their books at no extra cost to them,” says Dr. McLean. “This service is in keeping with our mission and our commitment to our students that lack of financial resources will not impede their education.”

Academic Benefits

Dean Brian T. Kelly reports that not charging extra for reading materials has also reaped positive results in the classroom. “When students were responsible for buying their own books, they would sometimes use poor translations because those were the cheapest,” he says. “Or they would borrow or buy used books from upperclassmen and siblings, and those books would often come with the important parts already highlighted, or the opening question for that day’s class penciled into the margin. So rather than gaining the experience of reading the book for themselves, they would get something predigested.”

By providing each student with a new text, Dr. Kelly finds, the College has been able to improve the educational experience for all. When students read from the same version of a text, with the same pagination, they can more easily locate particular passages. “Now we don’t waste time waiting for everyone to ‘get on the same page,’” he says. “That allows us to keep the conversations more centered on the text.”

Of course, sometimes, Dr. Kelly acknowledges, having multiple translations on hand can help students gain a truer sense of the author’s meaning. “On those occasions, we simply provide the students with multiple texts, as we regularly do with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Dante’s Divine Comedy. That way we know we will have all the needed translations available, rather than just hoping that students will bring them.”

To preserve the quality of the classroom experience, the College has no plans to shift to electronic texts, even though they are less expensive than bound books. “When you are holding an electronic book in your hands, you are really holding 5,000 books, plus your e-mail, weather updates, and sports scores,” says Dr. Kelly. “People will be a lot less present to the discussion if they have the addictive device in their hands. We are focused on giving students exactly what they need to gain the most from the discussion.”