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Program Offers Free Textbook Subscriptions to HBCU Students

shelves of books on laptop screen

Learning materials company Cengage has partnered with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to provide free semester-long textbook subscriptions to 1,000 students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Cengage Unlimited is a digital textbook subscription service that includes access to more than 22,000 Cengage e-books, online homework access codes and study guides, as well as additional resources from Evernote, Kaplan, Quizlet, Chegg and Dashlane. The new program will award 500 subscriptions each semester for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020, according to a news announcement.

The program will be administered by UNCF, which will select the subscription recipients on behalf of Cengage. Eligibility will be based on financial need, a minimum GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, an essay and letter of recommendation, among other factors.

"Every student should have an equal opportunity to succeed, and having the right learning materials can have a critical impact on performance. The high cost of textbooks have prohibited this for many students," said Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage, in a statement. "UNCF has helped thousands of learners, enabling opportunity for minority students through its financial support and public advocacy. We are proud to partner with UNCF to ease some of the financial burden these students face and ensure they are equipped with the tools they need to reach their full potential."

For more information, visit the UNCF site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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