UNT’s new Access Day One (AD1) policy received mixed ratings among current UNT students as the policy begins its newly expanded course catalog, during the 2019 fall semester.
The policy, which first piloted in the fall of 2018, gives students access to course materials on the first day of class to help combat the issue of students not having course materials within the first several weeks of class. The policy now includes 99 sections for courses within 10 colleges at UNT and payment for these materials are included in the students’ tuition.
The program was also established to allow faculty to begin teaching their respective courses immediately at the beginning of the semester to eliminate this frequent issue caused by students not purchasing course materials for the first day.
“We see a trend where students are not either buying or using textbooks,” Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs, Mike Simmons said. “A lot of national data that we have shows that cost is a reason for that and other reasons as well.”
Communication studies junior, Jennifer Ekwonye, expressed positive thoughts about the program and said it was less stressful for her to purchase textbooks.
“[AD1] made it easier to get textbooks because I could just let financial aid cover my textbook fees,” Ekwonye said.
The program received successful approval ratings via UNT surveys through the initial pilot program last year. However, there are students who are unsatisfied with the program for this semester.
UNT sophomore Destini Watts said she initially thought AD1 would benefit her by having her textbooks be included within her tuition but said she “ended up losing money.”
“[Acess Day One] was worse for me because I would be paying three times more for the same book when I found cheaper options online and at local bookstores around campus,” Watts, a public relations major, said.
Macy Caldwell, a sophomore integrative studies major, also said that while the policy didn’t affect her as much as other students, it did cause confusion.
“It confused me because I couldn’t see where the textbook was located and because it added fees that I was not expecting,” Caldwell said.
The AD1 program affects about 7,000 students, according to Simmons. He also said that while students do have a right to opt-out of the program, he and other staff in charge of the policy would like feedback as to why students chose to do so to help make the policy better for all students.
Simmons compared Access Day One to updates you receive on cell phones.
“You can view this sort of like that,” Simmons said. “You can constantly improve because the technology changes, the faculty changes, and the university system changes. You just constantly try and make it work better for students. That’s the goal.”
The full list of affected courses and section numbers can be located on the UNT Office of Accessibility and Affordability website.