Student & Faculty FAQs

Total Access is a new campus-wide course materials program at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Total Access is for all undergraduate students and replaces the current Inclusive Access program. Students will be charged one flat fee per term for all required course materials and have first day access to their digital materials.

Any University of Tennessee Knoxville student who is taking one or more undergraduate courses (499 and below) will be automatically enrolled in the Total Access program. Total Access is currently not available for graduate students. Graduate level students will continue to use Inclusive Access.

Students will be charged a flat fee for the Fall semester and Spring semester. Students will see the charge each semester on their financial statement distributed by the Office of the Bursar.

The Total Access fee covers all required materials for a course as submitted by the instructor. Total Access materials will be prioritized for digital content first. Where digital materials are not available, physical materials will be provided. Total Access does not cover optional or choice materials.

VolBooks launched Total Access beginning in the Fall 2024 semester.

No. Total Access covers all required course materials for undergraduate courses only. Graduate level courses (500 and above) will be available in Inclusive Access.

The Total Access fee will be automatically charged to students' accounts, and they are able to utilize financial aid and scholarship funds.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), a partially refundable income tax credit for out-of-pocket college expenses such as tuition and fees—and including course materials.

With the credit, students or their parents could get as much as $2,500 back on their taxes. Even families who don’t pay that much in income taxes might qualify for up to $1,000 in refunds.

Students must hang onto their course materials receipts. There are also family income limits for eligibility. The National Association of College Stores provides an AOTC website at www.textbookaid.org with all the details.

No. The Total Access rate is assessed to your entire course load. If you choose to opt out of the program, you will lose access to all of your registered course materials.

Yes. Students may opt out of the program by the opt out deadline, which is aligned with the Bursar’s add/drop deadlines and may vary depending on term. Students will not be able to opt back in at a later time. If choosing to opt out of Total Access, digital course materials will be disabled and any physical materials must be returned to VolBooks in resalable condition.

The opt out process is completed in Canvas by going to your Courses page. You will click the opt out button to opt out of the entire program. When you complete the opt out process you will receive an email confirmation.

The opt out deadline for Total Access is aligned with the Bursar’s add/drop deadline and may vary per term. Opt out deadlines for each term will be communicated in advance via email.

Opting out will result in loss of access to digital items and physical items must be returned to VolBooks in order to receive your full refund. You may then purchase individual items at your discretion from other sources. You may purchase digital materials from your Canvas bookshelf or directly from the publisher. VolBooks has reserved physical /print items for students who participate in Total Access. Check with the VolBooks manager to see if the item you need is available for individual purchase.

You may re-enroll in the Total Access program as long as it is within the specified timeframe, which is aligned with the Bursar’s add/drop deadline.

Digital textbooks are the default option. Traditional textbooks will only be supplied when a digital option is not available. Lab manuals and other course materials that are traditionally printed will remain the same.

To access your digital content for any given course, log in to the course page in your UTK Canvas account and open your bookshelf from the navigation menu.

Required print/physical materials may be picked up by students participating in the Total Access program at VolBooks in level G3 of the Student Union. Items may also be shipped if you are unable to pick up in person.

There will be a $25 flat rate shipping fee for all Total Access’ books which require shipping”. There is no cost for the books, they are part of the program. The $25 is for the shipping cost only. Click here to ship your textbooks.

If you choose to remain opted in to Total Access, required print/physical materials are yours to keep and do not need to be returned at the end of the term. If you opt out of Total Access, withdraw from the University, or drop any course for which you received physical materials, you are required to return those to VolBooks. If you do not return these materials, a hold will be placed on your student account for the replacement cost of outstanding materials.

Many of the digital textbooks may be downloaded to a device and read after the term is over. Digital textbooks that are a part of homework manager or courseware are only usable for the semester during which they were originally provided - unless otherwise noted, access to these materials expires once the term is over.

If you have questions about accessibility and using digital content or need an academic accommodation please contact the office of Student Disability Services for assistance.

No. Faculty retains full academic freedom under Total Access. Whether you are assigning paid publisher content or free resources, all of your materials remain available for adoption.

There is no change to the current process. You will adopt content through the Collect adoption tool.

Inclusive Access is a digital only program, so only titles that are available in digital format at a reduced price are provided in Canvas, and individual fees for each item are charged to student accounts. Print/physical items are not provided through Inclusive Access. Students can opt out of IA titles individually and receive a refund of the individual cost while retaining access to other IA titles.

Total Access offers digital and print materials for all classes as submitted by the instructor/ department through our Collect adoption system. Rather than individual fees, all required course materials are covered by a single, flat fee that is charged to student accounts. If students decide to opt out they receive a refund for the entire term fee but forfeit access to all materials.

Faculty will be notified via email when the adoption site opens for each term. The following deadlines ensure that students will have first day access to their materials.

• Fall Term: July 1
• Spring Term: November 1

This process remains unchanged. You will reach out to your publisher representative to request a desk copy. VolBooks can help connect you to your publisher rep, but they are not able to request desk copies.

VolBooks will accept your course material adoptions at any time. However, adoptions received after the deadline will encounter a delay in access/delivery for the student. Digital materials can take up to 48-72 hours to process for access in Canvas while print adoptions could take up to 30 days to arrive in store and be delivered to students.

Yes. You are free to continue to use the same content as previous terms. Please use the "Comments" field on the Collect adoption tool to provide information or links to items that do not have a standard ISBN.

Higer Education Opportunity Act

PUBLISHER REQUIREMENTS.— ‘‘(1) COLLEGE TEXTBOOK PRICING INFORMATION.—When a publisher provides a faculty member or other person or adopting entity in charge of selecting course materials at an institution of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance with information regarding a college textbook or supplemental material, the publisher shall include, with any such information and in writing (which may include electronic communications), the following: ‘‘(A) The price at which the publisher would make the college textbook or supplemental material available to the bookstore on the campus of, or otherwise associated with, such institution of higher education and, if available, the price at which the publisher makes the college textbook or supplemental material available to the public.

FI0155 – Minimizing the Cost of Textbooks and Course Materials; Duplication and Distribution of Instructional Materials Prepared by Faculty

SECTION 1. Policy Statement

Books and Course Materials Sold Through On-Campus Bookstores

A. On-campus bookstores must:
1. Require faculty members to acknowledge in writing the price of the textbooks and materials during the submission process.
2. Disclose to students and faculty members on a per-title and per-course basis the costs to students of purchasing the required textbooks, and electronic or written course materials, such as workbooks, manuals, etc., through an e-commerce website following activation before the start of each term.
3. When possible, provide students the option of purchasing textbooks and other study products separately from each other if selling textbooks to students as part of a bundled package.
4. Ensure that students have access to information regarding which course materials are required or optional. Each on-campus bookstore must ensure that this information is published on viable channels, including the on-campus bookstore’s website. Each on-campus bookstore must publish this information before courses begin and will publish the information as available. This information must include, but is not limited to, the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
5. When a publisher provides copies of required textbooks to the campus at no charge, the on-campus bookstore must provide copies of required textbooks to the applicable academic department or through the reserve system of the campus library. The academic department or library will provide access to the textbooks at no charge.

B. On-campus bookstores may offer an optional Flat-Fee Access program providing students all required course materials, for a set fee charged to a student’s account.

C. Buyback programs: if an on-campus bookstore conducts a book buyback program, the on- campus bookstore must actively publicize and promote the program.

D. Inventory management
1. On-campus bookstores must work with the institution’s administration and faculty members to ensure that the faculty submit to the on-campus bookstore lists of required textbooks and course materials in a timely manner to ensure that a sufficient quantity of the textbooks and materials are available for purchase when courses begin.
2.On-campus bookstores must utilize existing bookstore staff levels to manage and monitor textbook inventory.

Total Access is a flat rate, term level program fee and is not based on individual classes. Therefore, if you decide to cancel an adoption for your class there is no additional cost or reduction to the student.

Because students access their digital content through Canvas, you will need to "publish" your Canvas course. However, you are not required to utilize Canvas for instructional purposes.

Yes, students can choose to opt out each term. Please view the Student FAQ for complete details on the opt out process.

Students can purchase individual digital textbooks and other course content within their Canvas bookshelf. For courseware students may purchase through Canvas or directly through the publisher depending on the platform.

VolBooks will not be selling in-stock print textbooks to those who have opted out of Total Access because those books have been purchased at lower prices based on the subscription model per our contract with publishers. However, students can special order print textbooks at current retail prices or source the materials from vendors such as Amazon.

Where required course materials are impractical, unfeasible or unavailable in digital format, print options may be considered on an individual title by title basis. If requested material is an old edition or out of print, VolBooks will not be able to provide copies in any format.

Many students benefit from the program if other courses on their schedule have multiple required materials covered by the fee. Because each student's schedule is different, students are free to make individual decisions based on what is in their best interest.

If you'd like to learn more about our new course materials program, please consider taking the Total Access Canvas training for faculty and staff!

The following table shows a list of partners that currently participate in our IA digital program.