Many of the students flocking to the University Book Store this week to buy their books have been disappointed to discover that they can no longer charge their books to their university bills.

Hazel Henryson, who works at UBS as a greeter, has spent much of the past week passing out purple leaflets that read, “Unfortunately, the UBS student charge is no longer available.

“Their reaction has been ‘Oh nuts!’ and other choice words,” Henryson said. “Some students are terribly disappointed.” One young woman left the store in tears after waiting in line for forty-five minutes only to find she couldn’t charge her books to her u-bill.

About two years ago UBS, which is owned and operated by ISU, began offering students the option of charging their purchases to their u-bill. The new form of payment was so convenient for students that Campus Book Store, the main competitor of UBS, began to see a dramatic drop in profits.

“The University Book Store instituted a number of policies that made it difficult for Campus Book Store to compete on a level playing field,” said Graham Gillette, the spokesman for Campus Book Store. “We felt it was essential to offer the students a competitive choice, but the u-bill charge made that impossible,” he said.

Campus Book Store began looking for a way to offer a similar service to students. They contacted ISU as well as the Board of Regents to voice their concerns and solicit suggestions.

Eventually the Regents and ISU determined that in order to allow other businesses in the community equal access to a charging option, they would have to let a bank handle the accounting. “ISU decided it would be best for everyone to get the university out of the business of being an accounting service,” Gillette said. “It’s not in the university’s mission to worry about accounting.”

“We never wanted to do away with the convenience of the u-bill charge,” Gillette said.

Unfortunately, he said, the decision to move the accounting responsibilities to a private institution has resulted in a number of policy changes that make life a little more complicated for ISU students.

The ISUCard can still be used as a charge card, but students must have an account with Firstar Bank in order to use the charge feature. Students who need to purchase books before their financial aid checks arrive now must find a way to pay for their books on their own and await reimbursement.

While first-year students were told of the new policies at their orientation, many of the more seasoned ISU students didn’t find out about the demise of the u-bill charge until they arrived at UBS to purchase their books.

“My roommate didn’t know about the changeover,” Julie Sieren, a senior in animal sciences, said. “She waited in line and when she finally got to the front, she found out she couldn’t charge her books to her u-bill, so she couldn’t pay. She had to leave.”