Where to find required equipment for specialized courses
By Nicolas Esparza, October 7, 2025
Students at Cal Poly Pomona are looking to purchase affordable required materials for their courses at the beginning of each semester.
Certain courses at Cal Poly Pomona require materials and software that go beyond the textbook which may cause students to face unexpected fees. However, there are a few items that can be found for free around campus.
For example, the Student Health Services Center has scantrons available to students, and other organizations, such as the Womxn’s Center, offer free blue books. But course-specific required supplies can get expensive, such as classes that require labs.
“We have our lab coat, our goggles and our gloves,” said Raelene Santana, a chemistry student. “We have to bring them to every session, and if you don’t have them, we can’t do the lab.”
The cost of supplies averages around $80, according to Santana. But to keep costs down, she has been able to use this gear all four years and found affordable options on Amazon.
Major retail stores and websites like Amazon may offer some similar, if not exact course required materials.
“I took chemistry in high school, so I thought it was even something similar to that, where it’s just a lecture,” Santana said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all, but now that I’ve seen it, I understand why they’re doing it.”
Not only do classes require added supplies, but some require courseware as well. Courseware are digital versions of educational materials such as lessons and modules.
Biochemistry Professor Rakesh Mogul requires “Wiley Plus” for all his courses. This courseware allows the student to easily access their assignments and grades while making it easier for the professor to stay organized. Mogul has been using this courseware for the last 10 years.
“I use their learning exercises that are integrated with the textbook and the learning management system,” Mogul said. “It also integrates with Canvas for grading. All the grades end up going into Canvas right away, and students can see their progress, almost instantaneously.”
The cost of this digital feature is already bundled into the price of the textbook. The cost on its own is an estimated $100, according to Mogul, who recommends students use instant access.
Instant access complete at CPP allows students to pay a flat fee of $150 for all of the required textbooks for their classes each semester. The required courseware is included in this fee.
Opting in to instant access could be beneficial because it can save a student money and hassle rather than purchasing each individual textbook which could be costly seeing as the average cost of one college textbook alone is $100.
Students can not only purchase instant access but also a wide variety of supplies at the Bronco Bookstore. The bookstore offers bluebooks, graphing calculators, scantrons, notebooks, pencils and many more supplies.
There’s also a program through the Bronco Bookstore that helps students with the cost of the supplies for their coursework called the financial aid charging program. This program is available to students who are waiting to receive financial aid but still need to purchase materials.
“We set aside a certain amount of funds for the financial aid department to award a stipend to students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to stay in that program and get their materials that way,” said Suzanne Donnelly, associate director of the Bronco Bookstore.
According to Donnelly, the bookstore stays proactive on what materials courses will require by asking departments what they will be using. This allows students to quickly and easily purchase necessary materials at the start of the semester.
The Bronco Bookstore website does have a price comparison engine students can reference, so they can do their research on what the best pricing option might be for them.
“There are also major foundations that sponsor open educational resources, at no cost to students,” Donnelly said. “The number of materials that are available on those platforms has grown a lot over the past five years. Free e-books help us keep the cost of our program down. We’re trying to preach to faculty to consider these other options.”
For example, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funds open educational resources (OERs). Websites like OER Commons make these digital libraries easily accessible.
Feature image courtesy of Nicolas Esparza
