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Chris Mabey
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Denis Kiely
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Frank Gordy
PIKEVILLE, Tenn. — A library of loaner textbooks will help keep students on financial aid from getting behind at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Bledsoe County, one student said.
Chris Mabey, a 21-year-old husband, father and student at the Bledsoe campus, said he got “a little behind” when he started school last year without books because his financial aid funds were delayed.
“Luckily, I had good credit so I was able to go to the bank and get a loan until I was able to get (my financial aid),” Mr. Mabey said.
He said loaner textbooks can help students stay in school and out of money trouble.
Mr. Mabey, his wife, Britney, and his mother, Jackie, all juggle school, work and baby-sitting duties, he said.
His mother, Jackie Mabey, who has an 8-year-old at home, said the last thing students should have to worry about “is how to buy the books.”
“If you get behind, it’s impossible to catch up,” Jackie Mabey said. “We were going to share a book, but it was too hard.”
The family of college students all usually need the same book at the same time, she said.
Jed Mescon, who works part time at the college, contacted local businesses to help raise money for loaner books, according to Georgiana Kotarski, director of Chattanooga State’s Bledsoe campus.
Ms. Kotarski said delays in financial aid put some students in a money crunch that hampers their education.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” Ms. Kotarski said.
Math professor Frank Gordy and English professor Denis Kiely said they’ve copied textbook pages, created handouts and passed around out-of-date books to help students keep up while they wait for book money to arrive from financial aid sources.
The lending library will lighten the burden on all involved, they said.
“The first day, instructors are ready to start and financial aid checks are not in (students’) hands yet,” Mr. Gordy said.
Mr. Kiely said students won’t feel so overwhelmed with loaner textbooks to fill the gap.
“It’s something that should have been made possible long ago,” he said.
Bob Fleming, owner of Fiber Dynamics in Bledsoe County, is one local businessman who already has joined the effort to build a loaner library of textbooks.
“People are struggling and schooling expenses aren’t getting any cheaper,” Mr. Fleming said.
“I feel like as a business owner, it’s something I can do to help the community.”
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
