Changes Made To Textbook Trust

Books might be tougher to come by for some Tulsa Community College students. The Textbook Trust that was set up with the Tulsa Achieves program last fall gave $400 to virtually any student who didn't have another scholarship or grant. But, the college says that trust has to be scaled back this spring. The News On 6's Steve Berg reports the college says the textbook program received an overwhelming response, but college officials say there simply isn't enough money in the trust for everyone.

Tulsa Achieves was launched with great fanfare last fall. The program provides free tuition for every high school student in Tulsa County with a minimum GPA of 2.0, who lived in Tulsa County for all of the 9th through 12th grades.

As an added bonus, the Linda Mitchell Price Charitable Foundation gave $200,000 for the Textbook Trust which would give books to students, who would then turn them back in to be sold and refinance the trust. But, the college says the overwhelming participation in the textbook program in the fall means they have to impose new requirements, which will now be based on a student's financial need.

Students who qualify for Textbook Trust Support will be notified individually. Still, those who don't qualify have some options. Students can postpone payment on as much as $500 worth of books, for a fee of 1.5% a month.

And books for about two dozen different classes will be available in the college's library system. This change applies to the Textbook Trust, not to the tuition program which remains unchanged.

While some people are disappointed with the change, Tulsa Community College said from the beginning that the textbook money would be on a first come, first serve basis. The plan is to help as many students as possible.

TCC says they'll use parameters that are set by the Financial Aid Office to determine who is eligible for the textbook assistance.