Follett ACCESS Overview

Program Goal

Developed in partnership with colleges and universities, the Follett ACCESS program is designed to help lower the cost of education, improve access to course materials, and enhance learning outcomes. Follett ACCESS allows institutions to provide required course material to students as part of tuition or fees, ensuring students understand the full cost of education upfront and are prepared with required course materials on day one.

Follett benefits with increased market share on Follett ACCESS institutions, in many cases recouping lost customers who purchased course materials elsewhere or participated in courses without the required materials. It also decreases returns to vendors and makes the quantity-to-cover (QTC) decision easier to predict because all students are able to obtain their materials from the campus store, regardless of individual economic circumstances.

The Follett ACCESS Model

Follett ACCESS has been implemented in all segments of academia: K-12 and higher education, including two-year, four-year, graduate, and professional programs - online and face-to-face.

The Follett ACCESS model can use a variety of materials, depending on the goals of the institution. For example, many institutions are focused on a lowest cost option. In this scenario, FHEG will work with the institution to select the best format option to achieve that goal.

Process Flow

Important: Refer to CARP, CourseTracks, SAM, and SODA application-specific procedures.

Follett ACCESS Basics

Follett ACCESS is an integral part of the FHEG course material strategy to promote text rental, digital course materials, supplies, and native digital products, while offering concierge course materials services at our institutions. It is important to understand the details of the Follett ACCESS program, and the tasks required to successfully support this offering.

A web-based application called Student Adoption Matching System (SAM) supports the Follett ACCESS program. SAM matches student and instructor registration information from the institution’s student information system (SIS) to the required materials adopted in CourseTracks (CT). After matching the students and instructors to their courses, SAM sends an order for all physical materials to be fulfilled to SODA (Sales Order Desk Application). Digital product orders are sent through to OMS. The SODA order is charged to CARRR that is used to create an invoice within SAM that is then billed to the institution.

Basics of the Follett ACCESS program include:

• The Follett ACCESS agreement commits the institution to pay the course material charge for all applicable customers.
• The institution provides all adoption detail information to the FHEG store by the assigned due date, which is typically 12 weeks prior to the start of classes.
• The format of the materials is pre-selected by the institution in the majority of programs.
• The institution communicates the Follett ACCESS details to students and instructors, including instructions that an order is placed for them automatically after they register for an Follett ACCESS course section. The communication strategy for customers is decided by the institution and may vary across stores.
• Not all institutions use the Follett ACCESS name in their communication with customers. The Follett ACCESS program name is visible in CourseTracks on the Store Admin: Store Parameters screen.
• Printed textbooks, coursepacks, digital course materials, digital passcodes, and supplies can be adopted for Follett ACCESS course sections. The customer solutions manager (CSM) completes setup to enable Follett ACCESS functionality for your store. This enables the text decision maker (TDM) to view and use the Follett ACCESS functionality within the CourseTracks application.
• Where rental is being used, the institution backs the rental collateral for customers and a credit card is not necessary for rental transactions.