Any scholastic veteran can comment on the general state of irritation swarming the Pepperdine University bookstore during the start of every semester. With small paperbacks sold for around $10 and large hardbacks going for over $300 the book-buying process can be a capricious one.
“Every time I go to the register to buy my books at the bookstore I think to myself ‘I wonder how many of my belongings I am going to have to sell to make it this semester'” junior Kathryn Fleming said.
Many students who have found themselves spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks at the Pepperdine bookstore have found several ways to beat the system.
Some students have taken to buying their textbooks online off sites such as Amazon.com.
Book prices online are often dramatically reduced in comparison to what is charged in the bookstore. For instance “Calculus Concepts and Context required for math majors, goes for $291.00 at the Pepperdine Bookstore, and can be found for $173.74 on Amazon.com. Literature and the Writing Process a paperback textbook used in many English 215 classes, costs $96.00 if bought new, and Amazon.com sells it for $80.46.
I feel that in ordering my books on Amazon I get more books for at least half the price freshman Gina Vrablik said. First semester I spent $800 on books and this semester when I bought them on Amazon.com I spent $300. What college student can afford not to order books online?”
However the books often take more than a week to arrive and shipping and handling can sometimes be so expensive that the buyer ends up breaking even. But if the student is proactive enough to find out which books his or her professors will be using and takes the time to order books in advance the benefits are often worth the trouble.
E-readers like the Kindle the Nook and the newly released iPad offer students an innovative and efficient way to beat back textbook debt.
The Kindle a lightweight electronic device that can store up to 1500 books now offers a selection of textbooks that can be downloaded electronically and read on the go. Many of these books sell for under $10.
The recently announced iPad which resembles a larger version of the iPhone is like the Kindle in that users can download text directly onto the device. The question is whether students want to read textbooks on this sort of medium.
“For non-major classes that would be awesome junior Ross Lisman said. I want to keep the books I have for my major so I can refer to them later in my professional career but for classes like humanities? That’d be great.”
When asked about the iPad junior Kate Petersen said she’d prefer good old-fashioned paper. “When I read a book I like to highlight and write in the margins she said. I wouldn’t be able to do that in the same way on something electronic.”
“Even if I felt Kindle ripped me off it would still be cheaper than buying a book in the bookstore I can sell back for five bucks freshman Jeannie Purcar said.
However, even this type of gadget has one major pitfall. The Kindle itself costs more than $200 (though the first chapter of every book is completely free to download) and the iPad starts at $500. Moreover, not all textbooks are represented in their libraries.
Students looking for some financial relief can also download textbooks straight off the Internet for free. Several sites offer that service, including BookBoon.com, stationed in Copenhagen, Denmark.
They have been working to give students a break since 2005, featuring textbooks written by professionals in their fields. Though the writers are paid, BookBoon still manages so students never pay a cent.
At BookBoon.com you never pay to read or download our textbooks E.A. Blake, representative for BookBoon.com, said. In fact it is impossible to even make any sort of payment on our site.”
When asked if BookBoon has had any run-ins with publishing companies Blake replied “Yes they don’t like us because we scare them.”
Regarding the direction the textbook industry is headed Blake says he thinks they will wind up just like record stores did— online.
“With the current backdrop of things such as Borders [in the U.K.] recently going bankrupt Amazon leading European and U.S. book sales and Apple just launching a bookstore within iTunes everything seems to be going toward online sales.” Eventually he says only “niche” book stores will remain.
Regardless of whether a student prefers downloads or hardbacks the market now offers a variety of options in either domain.