Campus bookstore textbook return policies are as different as the campuses

This archived article was written by: Josh Luke

At the College of Eastern Utah’s College Senate Meeting on November 6, a question about the bookstores return policy was brought up. ASCEU President Jed Lloyd expressed interest in gathering data to show actual costs of this policy to see if there was any way it could be revised.
Brad Watson (director of student support services) requested that they look into why CEU would let you drop a class for two weeks and why you could only return books for a full refund for seven days
President Ryan Thomas said that the policy was very common in Utah, and that the money the bookstore made helped restock books and other things.
Vice President of Instituional Advancment and Auxilaries, Brad King stated that Dan Allen, associate vice president of institiutional advancement and auxillaries, had contacted the other state institutions and that CEU’s policy mirrored those of other institutions.
Research on all of the other state and private two-and-four year institutions in Utah showed that their colleges’ bookstore policies were all different. They ranged from seven-days to return books at CEU to Westminster which allows their students to return books for up to one month. Websites at the University of Utah, Weber State College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley State College and Brigham Young University all displayed their bookstore policies on the respective school’s website. All of the other campuses’ bookstores were surveyed via telephone.
UVSC has a policy that lets students return books for 22 days for a full refund. The U of U has a policy that lets students return books for 10 days with the full refund while Utah State University (USU) also has a 10-day policy. BYU has a two-week policy for full refund. Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) has a policy of three-weeks for full refund. Westminster College has a policy of a month for full refund on books. Snow College and Dixie College (DSC) also has a policy of seven-days. Weber State University has a policy of two-weeks for a full refund. CEU has a policy of seven days. (Most of the schools require a receipt and/or a drop slip).
The question of whether or not the policy should somehow be revised is still up in the air. Brad Watson’s question remains up in the air, and the policy at CEU stands at least for now.