MoWest aims to make textbooks more affordable

MoWest will partner with Barnes and Noble’s First Day Complete program in spring of 2026, aiming to make purchasing textbooks more affordable and accessible for students.

First Day Complete is an opt-in program that will charge students a fixed fee for their textbooks based on their applied credit hours. The fee is $24 per credit hour, meaning a student who’s applied for 10 hours will be charged $240 by Barnes and Noble for course materials.

Unlike the digital-only First Day program, First Day Complete ensures that both physical and digital course material will be readily available on the first day of classes, hence its name. Faculty decide what material will be included. Daniel Holt, Vice President of Finance and Administration, views the program as a win-win for all parties involved.

“It really simplifies the process for students,” said Holt. “It makes it easy for the store to administer books… There’s a lot of pros to it and very few cons.”

Students can opt-out of the program if they believe course material will not exceed the fee. Holt claims that the aim of the program is to make textbooks more affordable over the course of a student’s enrollment.

“It’s a game of averages,” said Holt. “As everything averages out, it should save students money.”

Along with saving money, another goal of the program is get students their course materials on the first day of classes. Students will not have to deliberate on what material is worth purchasing.

“It eliminates any issues with students who were late to order books,” said Holt. “It starts everybody off on the same page. They’re starting off day one with the resources they need to do the class.”

Moving forward, MoWest will measure the impact the program has on student success, and whether opting-in will actually benefit students.