For years, those of us working in higher education have experienced friction in reaching our common goal: educating students. This friction comes from the challenge of keeping faculty, administration, and students in sync and provided with the necessary tools to be successful. 

Over the past 25 years, Slingshot has been helping institutions build bridges across these three populations with flexible equitable access programs, proper engagement and streamlined software. Our goal is to help all students be successful in the classroom by having access to 100% of the required course materials before the first day of class. 

How Slingshot Helps Students

Students seem to think the campus store is out to get them and couldn’t possibly want what is best for them. We all know this isn’t true, but what can we do together to break down this perception and help build trust back? We believe that if you provide enough value to your students, they will build back that bridge one step at a time. Let's walk through how we can do that together.

1. No-Click Shopping. Through a Slingshot auto-fulfillment program, students no longer need to search your website side-by-side with the online marketplace, their books are automatically procured and delivered to them. This seamless shopping makes it an incredible service experience for your students. 
2. Course Material Savings. On average we can save students 25-50% off of their course material costs. Students often think the store is the most expensive place to shop, but with early adoptions, effective sourcing strategies and the growth of EA, we have greater tools to affect course material affordability.
3. Levels the Playing Field for All Students. All students, whatever their economic background, receive their required materials by the first day of class. We have eliminated the concern or anxiety over finding the right books and the money to pay for them. This is especially true for students who use financial aid who often have to wait weeks before they can access the necessary funds to purchase their course materials. 

How Slingshot Helps Faculty 

Faculty do not always understand the lifecycle of textbooks and how early adoptions allow the campus store to source materials at an affordable rate for students. Faculty also must often navigate challenging adoption processes, lacking the detail to make educated adoption decisions. 

1. Auto-Adopt Software. Faculty will spend less time adopting course materials due to the Slingshot Pro adoption software where users can see historical adoptions, other faculty adoptions and utilize an auto-adopt feature. 
2. Complete Academic Freedom. As the industry continues to evolve and change, faculty fear they will be forced to use specific publishers, content, and format types. Ensuring complete academic freedom for course materials including format type, the ability to use OER or instructor-created materials, and already licensed materials from the library helps faculty realize the store is on their side.
3. Ready to Teach on the First Day of Class. With students immediately having all the materials they need, faculty no longer need to delay instruction. Students are more secure and more likely to be successful within the class, which ultimately improves the entire classroom experience and outcomes.

How Slingshot Impacts Administration

The current campus store market share has decreased to around 25% due to the increased online competition and counterfeit books, causing a financial burden on the institution that was once receiving healthy profits from the campus store. In addition to this financial pressure, institutions are struggling with enrollment and retention issues, making the campus store's financial challenges feel even more significant.

• Returned Market Share. With an auto-fulfillment program, the campus store can regain its lost market share and will likely see between 75%-95% market share without sacrificing student affordability. In fact this program can increase course material affordability through increased ability for publisher negotiation.
• Cash Flow and Financial Risk. In partnership with Slingshot, we assume the cash flow needs and financial risks associated with course materials. This can result in significant savings to the institution and more predictability during budget season. 
• Increased Student Retention. Most college administrators are trying to determine what can be done to help students persist and graduate. Every time we have been able to study student retention we have been able to positively impact retention rates by ensuring every single student has everything they need to learn before the first day of class.

In summary, an equitable access course materials delivery model gives students access to all their required course materials on or before the first day of class. This model will save students money, provide them with better learning outcomes due to first-day access, support remote learning, allow students to pick classes and majors financial aid award, and provide a frictionless experience for both faculty and students.