Whether you’re an on campus or online student, there’s one thing in common – the cost of textbooks. Textbooks don’t come cheap, and with the added cost of postage for online students even when you’re borrowing books from the library, it can feel like you need to take out a small loan to pay them off.
New Student Services and Amenities Fees (SSAF) funding, helps to reduce the cost of study for online students by providing free return postage for textbooks.
Vanessa Salway from the Division of Library Services said that before SSAF funding, the library required students to pay for return postage themselves.
“SSAF funding allows us to supply online students with reply paid labels, so they can send their textbooks back to us at no cost,” Vanessa said.
The program has been in place since 2011 and has been funded by SSAF since 2014.
Bachelor of Social Science (Social Welfare) student, Michelle Buck told us the return postage initiative has helped her as she works full time with only the weekend to study.
“I really like getting my knowledge from books rather than the internet, so it fits in with the way I like to study” Michelle said.
“I’ve been using the service for four semesters now and I’m loving it.”
Michelle accidently came across the return postage program after researching for Library services online.
“There are a lot of online students that don’t even realise the service exists, but it’s there to help them,” Michelle said.
Vanessa Salway said the program is great for online students as they may not have physical access to the library.
“It definitely helps them feel more connected with other students,” Vanessa said.
SSAF Funding contributes to the maintenance and ongoing development of essential services and amenities for students both on and off campus, without the need to reduce funding for teaching and research.
