How It Works
Before the start of the each fall and spring semester, all Cornell undergraduate students are enrolled in the Cornell Academic Materials Program. This offers students the opportunity to explore the program benefits and their required materials. If a student chooses not to participate at the start of a given semester, they may opt out of the program and procure their course materials on their own. Key participation dates will be shared with students and families in communications leading up to the start of the semester and can viewed on the Important Dates tab above.
Cornell Academic Materials Program Benefits
Benefits to Students:
- Immediate access to materials: Students are prepared to begin their courses by the first day of class. Perpetual access to course materials, as available by the publisher.
- Predictable costs: A low flat rate reduces overall course materials costs when compared to traditional market prices, creating predictability for students. Flat rate is bursar billed for maximum convenience.
- Supports sense of belonging and retention: Engagement with peers and faculty within Canvas and additional publisher resources reduces course attrition.
Benefits to Faculty:
- Easy delivery of materials: Course materials are delivered in a digital-first method through the learning management system (Canvas), with non-digital materials shipped or picked up at a distribution location.
- Preserves Academic Freedom: faculty have full academic freedom whether they are assigning paid publisher content or free resources, all course materials are available for adoption.
- Enhanced insights: Faculty can use Canvas to gain greater insight into how students are engaging with materials.
- No change in how materials are adopted.
Gaining Access and Using Your Course Materials
By the first day of classes, undergraduate students can access the required digital content/textbooks for any course through Cornell’s Learning Management System, Canvas. To access:
- Log into the course page in your Cornell Canvas account
- Open your Bookshelf from the navigation menu
- Need help? View tutorial: CAMP – Accessing your Course Materials
Depending on the textbook or content type, students may find additional access information on the Attachments tab for each item displayed.
Students that need assistance with their Canvas or Bookshelf account may contact Vitalsource 24/7 via live chat or email.
Participating in the Program
Undergraduates:
Choosing to participate in the program is easy! Once materials become available in your Canvas account, you’ll have the opportunity to view all of your required materials and use them. No further action is required to participate. If you decide that the program does not meet your needs for the current semester, you may opt out prior to the opt-out deadline. View Student FAQs for more information.
Graduate Students:
The first phase of the Cornell Academic Materials Program will only include undergraduate students. Graduate programs are incredibly diverse in scope so each graduate program is currently being evaluated with the goal of including them in future phases of the Cornell Academic Materials Program.
Faculty:
Faculty have full academic freedom under the Cornell Academic Materials Program, and the textbook selection process will remain the same. View Faculty FAQs for more information.
Billing
Students will see the $285 flat-rate Cornell Academic Materials Program fee on their July Bursar billing statement for the fall semester and their January billing statement for the spring semester. For more information, view the Frequently Asked Questions page.