As the university struggles to work out the issues of Wildcat Access, some students finally are receiving their book shipments, three weeks into classes.

In partnership with eCampus, the new program is meant to provide students with all of their course materials on or before the first day of class at a rate of $350 each semester.

But university officials say implementation of the program did not go as expected.

“The rollout was anything short of a disaster,” said Tamara Long, vice president for enrollment and student life. “It did not go the way any of us were told it would go by Ecampus on so many levels, which is just really disappointing and frustrating, because at the end of the day, we are responsible for the student experience, and when things don’t go well for students, it’s our fault.”

Students have reported communication errors, not receiving books, receiving incorrect books or even getting two shipments of their order.

Ethan Bell, junior engineering major from North Richland Hills, said he was unable to pick up his books on the first day of school, so he returned a few days later only to find that the bookstore still did not have his books. He was told to contact eCampus.

Orders line the shelves of the campus bookstore. (Photo by Ashley Henderson)

“When I called eCampus, they said they didn’t know anything,” Bell said. “It was kind of like just a back and forth of no one knowing what happened to my books, and so it took about like two weeks for my books to actually come in, and they came twice.”

After Bell’s repeated phone calls, eCampus told him that his shipment had been lost. Once they arrived, he received two shipments and had to send some back.

“It was just a frustrating experience because I paid for the books and I didn’t have access to them,” Bell said, “and it was hard to do class and do the readings and quizzes and stuff without books.”

For students uninterested in participating in the program, they must opt out every semester. The initial communication told students that they had to first send an email about their reasoning for wanting to opt-out. Long said this was ineffective and led to the creation of the current opt-out form, which will remain.

Students studying abroad were also required to fill out the opt-out form despite their absence on campus and their responsibility for getting their own books. 

Mark Barneche, director of international education and study abroad, said the study abroad office was not included in meetings about Wildcat Access and its rollout. When the program was announced, study abroad students were told to opt-out immediately, but Barnache said some students still received emails that they had books available for pickup. 

“It was unclear to me whether or not they failed to opt-out, or whether or not it was a glitch in the Wildcat Access system that simply associated those study abroad students with other courses that were here on campus,” Barneche said.

Barneche said study abroad sent a list to Lori Herrick, chief financial officer, and Lyndi Felan, associate dean for retention and student success, of all the students that needed to be opted out. Refunds are still in the process of being made to all of those students.

“The process was at least unfortunate on the front end for us, but on the back end, I have confidence it’s going to be resolved in a way that’s good for study abroad students,” Barneche said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how it could become advantageous for study abroad in the future.”

Long said some of the issues have been difficult to recover from and she apologizes for what students have experienced. She said to her knowledge, all books should be shipped or in route.

“It has been disappointing how [eCampus’s] leadership has responded to our situations,” Long said. “A lot of it even boils down to even some of the communication to students not being done well on their part. So we’ve tried to step in and mitigate, but that’s been challenging.”

The contract with eCampus lasts through the end of the spring semester, but plans for the 2025-26 school year have not been finalized.

“We’re not gonna let this happen again,” Long said. “It impacts the students significantly in the classroom, and that’s not acceptable. It’s too early to say what we’ll do, but absolutely, Ecampus would have to deliver with precision this spring for us to feel confident returning to them as a vendor.”