This petition is being sent to the Inspector General at the US Department of Education. They are responsible for investigating fraud and misuse of federal financial aid money by educational institutions.

This petition is to protest the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's policy of the mandatory Digital Bookshelf fee. Many student's are upset about this new policy and believe it is unfair on a number of levels.

This policy institutes a mandatory $70 per course fee for digital books. We strongly believe it is unfair to those students who cannot read long texts on their computer, want portability with their textbooks so they can study away from their computer, or wish to have printed textbooks to use as reference in the future. 

We also believe that this policy is wrong because the fees for the Digital Bookshelf will be taken directly out of our federal financial aid package. While this will curtail out of pocket expenses for textbooks, it will substantially add to our educational debt because we will be paying interest on our textbooks for the life of our student loans, making the cost of these textbooks well over the $70 fee that AiO is charging use. Add that to the cost of the electricty to sit at a computer and read these books and the overall cost of textbooks for each class will increase dramatically.

Additionally, should we wish to print any of the reading materials, we will now be paying for ink or toner, paper, and electricity, driving up the cost of these books even more. And, should we need to purchase a printed textbook for any reason, we will still be charged the $70 Digital Bookshelf fee, even if we never read the digital version of the textbook.

There are many different learning styles; people do not effectively learn in the same manner. What works well for some does not work well for others. As adults who have chosen to pursure a higher education, and bear the cost of that education, we believe we should have the option to chose to purchase a digital book or a printed book.

We believe we should have the option to choose to add the cost of textbooks to our indebtedness, or to pay out of pocket and find our textbooks where ever we choose.

If you believe that you should have the choice of what format textbook you buy, how much you pay for textbooks, and where you buy your textbooks from, then please sign this petition. Together, we may be able to change this policy.