Students have been able to receive their textbooks on a subscription basis since fall 2024.

The Bruin One Access program, administered by ASUCLA, allows students to access their required course materials for $129 per quarter. Students are automatically enrolled in the program and must opt out or elect to use Inclusive Access. Under the latter program, they will be billed the cost of the books their classes require unless they opt out before the end of week two of each quarter.

“It’s definitely a more clean and integrated software that we didn’t have before,” said Kyle Dylan, a fourth-year statistics and data science student. “However, I opt out personally because at this point in my UCLA career, we don’t really have to get as many books as compared to when I was first starting with my general education classes or my intro to my major classes.”

Dylan added that the program could be useful for students with multiple required textbooks as it would provide content in a digital manner.

However, fourth-year cognitive science student Gracie McEwen said she does not like the program’s opt-out format.

“I don’t like the program,” she said. “Now, I spend more money on books.”

UCLA Store Book Division Manager Scott Chapman said the Undergraduate Students Association Council that the Inclusive Access program saved students $1,106,503 in the 2022-2023 academic year. He added that he believes Bruin One provides students flexibility and is relatively well priced, compared to the average amount of financial aid students get per year.

“$387 essentially (per year),” Chapman said. “That cost is really half of what financial aid currently allocates for recipients for course materials, so that … allows students to use those financial aid dollars to meet other needs.”

USAC Academic Affairs Commissioner Cristopher Espino said he would prefer programs like Bruin One to be opt in.

“The Academic Affairs Commission had done a lot of advocacy from Inclusive Access where students had to opt out as opposed to opt in,” Espino said. “We found that there were a large portion of the undergraduate population had difficulty opting out by the deadline – which was Friday of week two – because there was just not necessarily enough information.”

Christina Manuel, ASUCLA’s communications and social media manager, said in an emailed statement that the $129 quarterly fee at UCLA is roughly $40 less than a similar program offered at UC Davis. Chapman added that the program is cheaper compared to several other similar programs at universities across the country.

However, Patricia Olvera, a fourth-year history student, said the price of Bruin One Access was “a punch to the gut.”

“I feel like it’s really expensive,” she said. “I’ve never had a reason to have it until this quarter, where this is my first class where my textbook was actually more expensive than the program itself.”