UH students win free textbooks for taking 15 credits

Students selected in drawing as part of 15 to Finish UH Bookstores Promotion

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Jodi Leong, (808) 492-0597
Dir of Communications, External Affairs and University Relations
Posted: Aug 28, 2014

Student Allyson Kim (rt)  gets help gathering her free textbooks
Student Allyson Kim (rt) gets help gathering her free textbooks

Video and audio link:  15 to finish bookstore VNR: http://bit.ly/XTQ0vK

More information below.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Nineteen students from University of Hawai‘i campuses across the state received all of their textbooks for free this semester as part of the 15 to Finish UH Bookstores Promotion, which encourages incoming freshmen to take 15 or more credits per semester to graduate on time.

All freshmen who earned at least 30 credits last academic year and were in good standing (with a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA by May 30, 2014) were eligible for a drawing to win free textbooks for the Fall 2014 semester.  Winning students were randomly selected across the university’s ten-campus system.

Mitchell Moses, 19, saved $720 in textbook costs this semester. The architecture major was among four UH Mānoa students to win free textbooks this semester.

“I was stoked, I was excited.  I knew my books was going to cost a lot so I knew I was going to save a lot of money,” Moses said.

UH Mānoa civil engineering student Rachel Blaire saved $550 in textbook costs.

“It was pretty exciting.  I was really happy to find out my textbooks were paid for because this semester is supposed to be pretty hard with calculus and the start of all of my engineering classes,” Blaire said.

The UH Bookstore selected 19 winners from more than 1,300 eligible students and will continue this successful promotion. Incoming freshmen completing 30 credits or more this 2014-15 academic year will be eligible for next year’s drawing for free textbooks.

“We have found that students who earn 30 credits or more per year are more likely to graduate and graduate on time (four years for a bachelor’s degree and two years for an associate degree), earn better grades, continue to the next semester, and complete more of their courses,” said Joanne Itano, Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “We appreciate the UH Bookstores’ willingness to partner with us and promote 15 to Finish.”

UH Bookstores Director, Tricia Ejima added, “We’re happy to support the UH System with its 15 to Finish campaign by rewarding students with free textbooks. We take pride in providing our students with everything they need for college, and this was just one more way for us to give back.”

The 15 to Finish campaign is part of the Hawai‘i Graduation Initiative, a systemwide initiative to increase the number of UH graduates by 25 percent by the year 2015. For more information about the promotion go to the 15 to Finish website at http://15tofinish.com.

 

B-ROLL (60 seconds)

UH Mānoa bookstore exteriors (3 shots)

Winner Mitchell Moses in bookstore (4 shots)

Winner Rachel Blaire in bookstore (4 shots)

 

SOUNDBITES:

Mitchell Moses - University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa sophomore (6 seconds)

"I was stoked, I was excited. I knew my books was going to cost a lot so I knew I was going to save a lot of money."

 

Moses (8 seconds)

"It's tough but it is worth it because you're graduating in four years, you don't have to go to summer school, you're just in-and-out. Four years."

 

Rachel Blaire - University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa sophomore (9 seconds)

"It was pretty exciting. I was really happy to find out my textbooks were paid for because this semester is supposed to be pretty hard with calculus and the start of all of my engineering classes."

 

Blaire (10 seconds)

"The first semester, I took 15 credits and I was comfortable with that. I actually enjoyed all of my classes so I thought, second semester, I would be okay. So I upped it to 19. That was more challenging than I thought it would be, so this semester, I am back down to 17."

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