Sophomore Brian Fedor spent his summer working at a San Diego resort to earn money for school. Last week, a paycheck’s worth of the 19-year-old’s sweat and toil became property of the University Bookstore when Fedor spent $453.81 on his fall term textbooks.
“It was pretty killer,” Fedor said.
With the beginning of fall term classes, University students face sometimes dizzying textbook costs. So much so that the University Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships budgets $900 a year per student for textbooks alone. With the financial pain comes the inevitable question: How can students save money?
While many students simply buy new books and swallow the cost, others buy used books, share or trade books with friends, shop online or use course reserves.
Fedor had his own plan.
“If I can find them cheaper, I’m going to come back and return these because that’s a lot of money,” Fedor said. “That’s like two weeks worth of pay.”
The bookstore gives students until Oct. 12 to return their textbooks for a full refund, provided they keep the receipt.
Fedor’s most damaging purchase was an $198 Organic Chemistry textbook bundle for Professor John Keana’s chemistry 331 class.
“It’s just stupidly expensive,” Keana said. “It’s just incredible.”
In an attempt to soften the impact on students’ pocketbooks, Keana allows students to use the third edition of the textbook instead of the new fourth edition.
“It’s a dang sight cheaper,” Keana said.
Keana also placed a textbook on reserve at the University Science Library.
“I’m doing everything I can to save (students) some money,” he said.
For students who must own their own textbooks, buying used books can be an easy way to save money. The University Bookstore sells used books at a 25 percent discount off of new book prices, said Chris Standish, University Bookstore book division manager.
“Students ask for used textbooks,” Standish said. “They have an expectation that we will carry them.”
Shopping online can also yield significant savings. The University Bookstore sells “Crescendo!,” a second-year Italian textbook, for $66.85 new and $50.15 used. According to the price comparison Web site www.addall.com, “Crescendo!” can be purchased for $46.30 used, including shipping, from the Pickabook UK Web site.
The $3.85 a student would save from buying online is somewhat offset by the seven- to 14-day wait for shipping, however.
When selling books back at the end of the term, students have a few choices. The Web site TextbookX.com, which allows students to buy and sell books directly with other students, claims to offer higher buyback prices than most college bookstores. Both the University Bookstore and Smith Family Bookstore will buy back books, provided they need them.
Due to a low supply of used textbooks, fall term tends to be the most expensive term, according to Elizabeth Bickford, director of Student Financial Aid.
Students can also avoid buying textbooks by sharing with friends. Senior Tony Papillo said he shares textbooks with friends once or twice a year.
“It usually works out,” Papillo said. “It’s kinda tricky sometimes when you have a test or a quiz or something, but in that case you usually study together.”
The library’s course reserve system is another way students can access classroom material. Last year students accessed course reserve materials 56,000 times from the Knight Library.
“(It’s a) real high-use collection,” said Laura Willey, University libraries circulation, course reserves and videos manager.
The Knight Library has 7,700 items from 1,300 courses on reserve.
Students might not always be able to find the books they need on reserve, however. Some professors never put anything on reserve, according to Willey.
“You’re not going to get through school without having purchased textbooks,” Willey said.