With school beginning soon, many college students are excitedly packing essential items, getting ready to move into dorms or apartments.
Not many are too excited about buying books for the upcoming semester.
Because those who say education is priceless - well, they perhaps haven't seen the stickers on textbooks recently. Some people pay more than $500 a semester for reading material. The four-book bundle of texts for one course, History of Western Music, at Lebanon Valley College this year is commanding $287.99 new in the college bookstore.
OK, but how many college students really read every assigned page of their expensive textbooks anyway? It begs the question: Are these books really worth the cost?
LVC junior and bookstore employee Jennifer Rosenberger of Red Lion shelves the store s priciest bundle of textbooks for a single course, History of Western Music. The tag is $287.99. (Jeremy Long - Lebanon Daily News)
Lebanon Valley College student Tito Valdes of Lebanon, they are.
"I never really had a book that I didn't use," he said.
Others disagree, not bothering to even buy the book or spending hours searching on the computer for the closest price to nothing.
Online stores are prospering because many students rely on them to find cheap textbooks. Stores such as Textbooks.com, Half.com, Amazon.com, and eBay.com - to name a few - offer used books at discount prices.
Chegg.com, another online service, allows students to rent textbooks without the worry of dishing out more money to send them back; the online store includes a return label with the purchases.
"Since you are renting them," said Leithie Faison, an 18-year-old Cabrini College student from North Cornwall, "you don't get any money back, but I think it's cheaper than buying a book and then not having a chance in being able to get the money that it's worth at the end of the semester."
Students try to find the lowest-priced books online, but it may be hard to keep track of which site has the cheapest books. That's when websites like Cheapesttextbooks.com, Directtextbook.com, Campusbooks.com, and AddALL.com come in handy.
that are currently selling the specific book being searched for, and at what prices.
"AddALL is the best site I've used," said Danielle Streley, a 19-year-old Lebanon Valley College student from Myerstown. "But sometimes I don't find (a book) for any cheaper than what the school store offers, so I just buy it from the store."
Although buying or renting textbooks online seems to be the most popular method today, some students like the comfort of buying their books from the school bookstore. Most schools have an online system where students can preorder their books and pick them up (or have them delivered!) before classes begin.
"It's really nice and takes stress off of you," said Ashley Artz, a 19-year-old Lebanon Valley College student from Lebanon.
Chad Schreier, manager of the store, says it's doing whatever it can to help students save money.
"We work with faculty to secure faculty textbook adoptions before the end of each semester so that we can buy as many books back from students after finals," Schreier said. "If a professor is using a book for the following semester, the College Store will pay up to 50 percent of the new book value, even if the student purchased the book used."
Other strategies Schreier and his staff employ:
Standing orders with wholesalers to stock up on used books. "Used books make up over 45 percent of our textbook sales," Schreier said. The option for students to preorder books through the Dutchmen Club and save an extra 5 percent. Custom textbooks, which allow a professor to build a textbook containing only the parts that will be used in the course. The savings are significant.
Some schools have incorporated online text into courses, or professors have simply scanned text and put it online for students to print out, at almost no cost other than the paper and ink.
Valdes said he has not taken a course where the professors offer text online. Like Artz, he buys directly from the bookstore. They both find security in getting their books that way.
"Honestly," Artz said, "who knows if the person you're buying from online has the exact same book you need? Maybe pages are missing or something like that. And there could be shipping fees, too. That way, with school, I know I'll get the right book that I need."
Some online stores do offer free shipping when buying reading material, such as the Amazon Student program that offers free two-day shipping on Amazon books. Many cheaper books, though, are sold online by independents who tack on shipping prices.
Besides the original book price driving students crazy, buyback prices are even more overwhelming.
"I sold a couple books back this past year," Valdes said, "and I only got like $10 back when I spent $50. But I always just sell them back to the school. I think it's easier than selling them online or finding someone who needs that exact book."
Artz, who isn't fond of the buyback prices, had other ideas.
"As far as buyback goes," Artz said, "I didn't go to the college store because you don't get that much back, so I either sell online or to other students."
Most students are happy with getting any money back for a required book for a class, because not all editions of books are used every semester, and schools won't buy them back.
Now is the time when students begin to stress about this. For those looking to relieve themselves of stress, but don't mind maybe spending a few extra bucks: Pre-order them from the bookstore, or find them on the shelves after checking out the class. But if students don't mind waiting a few extra days to have a book shipped: Buy or rent the book online.
If buyback prices at the school bookstore seem too low, sell them online or advertise your book on the school's Facebook page, where others are likely to want them. If editions are no longer used at the school, sometimes street vendors will still buy them.
But no matter the method of obtaining textbooks, students are still dishing out more money than some realize and buyback prices are not much of a help to offset the costs.
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