University Bookstore Charge Program Suspended By Legislators' Request

The communication below will be sent this week by mail and e-mail to the 7,000 students, and their parents, who signed up to participate in this program.

Dear Students and Parents,

This past fall we launched the University Bookstore Student Charge Program for Books and Educational Materials. It allowed qualified students to charge books and academic supplies at the university book store to their university accounts in the same manner as tuition, fees and housing costs are charged. The costs were rolled into the same monthly repayment plans that are used to repay tuition, fees and housing costs.

On December 18^th, the Arkansas House and Senate Interim Committee on Insurance and Commerce, acting at the request of Fayetteville Senator Sue Madison, determined that the program raised issues of fairness to private booksellers.

The committee’s leadership suggested the university bookstore charge program be discontinued unless a means for extending the program to all booksellers could be found before next semester begins. Initial research on the legal questions this raised indicates that the university cannot, as a state agency, act as a credit broker to private business.

Following the committee’s direction, the program has been suspended. We regret the need to take this action, and the impact that it may have on your college budget planning.

All ordinary means of payment - cash, checks, credit cards - are still accepted at the university bookstore. The bookstore will continue to offer a complete selection of materials necessary to the academic progress of University of Arkansas students. The students who have already used this program to buy textbooks for the spring semester will not be required to return anything; no other use for the book charge program will be allowed as of the date of this communication.

We remain committed to lowering barriers to academic progress with help on the front-end costs of attendance, and will continue to look for ways to assist students in moving toward their personal goals.

Sincerely,

David O. Martinson
Associate Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs