FAQ for Students

General Information

The Bear Book Bundle is an affordable textbook rental program that provides undergraduate students with all required textbooks, lab manuals, access codes, and electronic book versions on or before the first day of class each semester. At the end of the semester, students will receive email reminders to return printed textbooks to the bookstore.

The average student is estimated to save 35% – 50% on textbooks for a semester. The cost is $24 per credit hour for the 2024-25 academic year and will be applied to your student account as a “Books and Materials Fee.”

Register for your classes and the bookstore will start preparing your course materials.
One month before classes start, you will receive an email instructing you to select your delivery preference (in-store pickup or shipped directly to you).
An email notification will be sent when your order is ready for pick up or when it ships.
Your digital materials will be delivered for your course(s) within Canvas.

All required course materials are included as a course charge based on the number of credit hours you are taking per semester. The rate is $24 per credit hour for the 2023-24 academic year.

Example of Fee Calculation
Enrolled Credits	Book Bundle Fee
3	$72.00
6	$144.00
9	$216.00
12	$288.00
15	$360.00
18	$432.00

The fee for the Bear Book Bundle will be applied automatically to your student account. Consumable supplies, such as paper and writing utensils, are not included in this program and will need to be purchased separately.

If you select recommended or supply items while submitting your Bear Book Bundle order, you will be responsible for the additional costs paid to the campus bookstore. Upon verifying your order, if you add recommended textbooks, extra supplies, materials, or merchandise, you will be required to pay the bookstore with a debit card, credit card, or your Mercer Bear Card for those additional items. If you choose to have your materials shipped after verifying your order, an additional shipping charge will be added.

Program Participation

Textbook Condition

Good condition will be judged by the bookstore alone and generally means book spine intact, no excessive damage to cover or contents, all original pages intact, all original components present, and no excessive highlighting, writing or other markings. If the bookstore determines your book to be unacceptable for return, the book will be returned to you. You will receive an email notification from the bookstore that explains next steps. It is recommended that you upgrade to a purchase within the rental timeline, as the purchase would be cheaper compared to the replacement cost of the textbook. Replacement costs for Bear Book Bundle rentals will be billed directly by Auxiliary Services and will not be applied to your student account. All non-return fees will result in a registration hold.

Digital Course Material

When you reserve your Bear Book Bundle, you will see how each course material will be delivered, either print or digital.

Most digital materials will be available directly in your Canvas course in one of three ways:
- Access code reveal: Click on the Bear Book Bundle link in the course in Canvas that takes you to the bookstore’s digital materials platform. A code will be revealed to you for access to your course materials. Follow the directions provided with the code.
- Bookstore direct access: Click on the Bear Book Bundle link in the course in Canvas. This will take you to the bookstore’s digital materials platform. Click on the materials and access them directly through this platform.
- Publisher direct access: You will see a publisher link in the Canvas course, for example McGraw Hill Connect. Click on that link, and it will take you directly to the course materials on the publisher’s site. You will have codeless access.
Other digital materials will be distributed as an access card or email. Follow the instructions on the access card or within the email.

Your access to the digital materials will be revoked on the opt-out deadline. If you need to gain access to the digital materials again after the opt-out deadline and after the access was revoked, you may purchase the digital materials from the bookstore at the regular retail price. Once you have purchased the materials, you can regain access with the physical or digital access code provided with your purchase. Any work completed prior to the access being revoked will still be there when you regain access.

Accessible Format

Payment

Yes! Financial aid will be applied first to tuition, then fees, and then charges on your Mercer student account. Therefore, if enough aid is available to cover part or all of the Bear Book Bundle, then financial aid will be applied up to the maximum amount of aid. In instances where your financial aid is not enough to cover the Bear Book Bundle in part or in its entirety, you are required to pay the difference to Mercer University by the last first day of class for the semester.

Returning Textbooks and other Course Materials

Good condition will be judged by the bookstore alone and generally means book spine intact, no excessive damage to cover or contents, all original pages intact, all original components present, and no excessive highlighting, writing or other markings. If the bookstore determines your book to be unacceptable for return, the book will be returned to you. You will receive an email notification from the bookstore that explains next steps. It is recommended that you upgrade to a purchase within the rental timeline, as the purchase would be cheaper compared to the replacement cost of the textbook.

Replacement costs for Bear Book Bundle rentals will be billed directly by Auxiliary Services and will not be applied to your student account. All non-return fees will result in a registration hold.

You will receive several notification reminders about returning your books. If you do not return your books, an email notice will be sent to you from Auxiliary Services stating that (1) you are responsible for the course materials replacement and (2) a hold will be placed on your account until the balance is paid to Auxiliary Services. A hold on your account means that you are ineligible to register for classes, request transcripts, or receive your diploma until the matter is resolved. Payment for non-return and/or replacement course materials can be made in person to Auxiliary Services at either the Macon or Atlanta campus offices.

You are given until the last day of final exams to return the dropped class materials in a semester without penalty. There is no additional fee unless the class change impacted your number of credit hours for the semester. For example, if you were enrolled for 12 credit hours in the original schedule and 12 credit hours in your revised schedule, there would be no additional fee for the book bundle because your number of credit hours remained the same. Your account will be adjusted if you increase or decrease the number of credit hours within a semester.

For the new materials, you will receive an email asking you to reconfirm your class listing within 24-48 hours of registration. A new order is created based on this confirmation. You choose to either pick up the materials at the store of origin or have them shipped to you. Once course materials are shipped, you typically receive them within 24 hours.