“Students find the Price of School Books ‘Downright Ridiculous’”

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September 20, 2012 by aliciamarie94

The first two weeks of school at Chabot College consist of students emptying their wallets at the school bookstore for the textbooks needed for their classes.

The pricing of college textbooks are a rude awakening for the recently former high school seniors and a continuous headache for the rest of the students. Not to mention the unpredictability of the prices, as they tend to vary. Student Elizabeth Low said she had “one book that was thirty-eight dollars and another that was one hundred and four.”

Many of these students may be eligible for financial aid, but some are not and are forced to pay out of pocket for not only the books but the tuition, supplies, enrollment fee, etc. “It’s hard.” says Kassandra Rodriguez, student at the community college. “It’s hard to ask my parents for money, knowing that they don’t have a lot to give, and I can imagine how much harder it has to be for the people who can’t run to their parents for help.”

Previously, other companies provided students with other pricing options besides the store at school, like Borders and Barnes and Nobles. Now, the numbers of local bookstores are declining dramatically due to technology like the Kindle and Nook. People aren’t buying paper books from the bookstores anymore, which are causing companies like Borders to go out of business. The result of the loss of that resource is that people now have to pay for their textbooks full price with no benefits like gift cards or a Borders card.

However, many students find other resources that provide more affordable prices that suit their budget. Rodriguez bought three out of four of her textbooks off of Amazon, an online site that sells a variety of products, textbooks included. Low bought one of her more expensive books from a peer that had already taken the class and sold it to her for half the original cost. “It seriously made things easier,” she says, “and it definitely wasn’t as painful handing over the money as it would have been for double what I gave.”

More experienced students also provide the “freshies” a helpful tip: take care of your books. Alexandria Garcia, a junior at UC Davis, said she bought most of her textbooks used but in decent conditions and cheap, and sold them to other students when she finished the course. “I sometimes even made a profit off of them,” she said with a wink. The less notes, doodles, highlights, etc., the more your textbook is worth and the more money you’ll get back for it.