2008 Woodie Awards
Textbook smarts can save you cash
Matthew Moss
Issue date: 12/1/05 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
It's after turkey day but before Christmas, err, winter break. The roads are slick, the wind is howling and the semester is winding down.
A few of us erstwhile students are even cracking open textbooks for the first time in preparation of finals. Two weeks from now those books will have served their purposes.
Then what?
Students have complained about book prices for as long as there have been book prices. We say they gouge us at the bookstore then short us at buyback.
I am sick of shelling out cash for books. I'm lucky if I open them at all. While others study or plan their winter vacation, I wonder why I bought all these useless texts and grapple with how little I'll see in return for them.
There are ways to alleviate the textbook blues though. Using any of these methods, you can cut costs and stick it to publishers who think changing a couple pages of info creates a new edition - meaning you won't get to sell back your statistics book. Or was it macroeconomics?
1) Buy books online. Half.com, textbooks.com and amazon.com are all great places to start. Get the ISBN numbers off of EagleNet and put them in Web site databases to make sure you'll have the same edition as those overpriced ones on the bookstore shelves.
Buying online can save you considerable money, especially if you're willing to trade value for a beat up, used copy of a textbook.
2) Visit the library. Many instructors put texts on reserve at the library if they're in stock. If you're assigned Orwell's "1984" or Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", try checking them out from the school or public library and save yourself $15.
3) Trade with your peers. If you know someone who has a book you need and you have a book they need, swap. This will really stick it to the powers that be - they'll miss out on business of two people.
Or if you know someone has a book you could use, offer them a modest price for it. If they paid $90 for it but the bookstore will only give them $20 back, offer them $40 - you both win.
Textbook prices have reached ridiculous levels, rivaling the cost of tuition. Students should not have to bear the brunt of greedy publishers and bookstores looking to make a buck.
Be resourceful when buying and show book barons they can't gouge students. It doesn't take much book smarts to save a bundle.
A few of us erstwhile students are even cracking open textbooks for the first time in preparation of finals. Two weeks from now those books will have served their purposes.
Then what?
Students have complained about book prices for as long as there have been book prices. We say they gouge us at the bookstore then short us at buyback.
I am sick of shelling out cash for books. I'm lucky if I open them at all. While others study or plan their winter vacation, I wonder why I bought all these useless texts and grapple with how little I'll see in return for them.
There are ways to alleviate the textbook blues though. Using any of these methods, you can cut costs and stick it to publishers who think changing a couple pages of info creates a new edition - meaning you won't get to sell back your statistics book. Or was it macroeconomics?
1) Buy books online. Half.com, textbooks.com and amazon.com are all great places to start. Get the ISBN numbers off of EagleNet and put them in Web site databases to make sure you'll have the same edition as those overpriced ones on the bookstore shelves.
Buying online can save you considerable money, especially if you're willing to trade value for a beat up, used copy of a textbook.
2) Visit the library. Many instructors put texts on reserve at the library if they're in stock. If you're assigned Orwell's "1984" or Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", try checking them out from the school or public library and save yourself $15.
3) Trade with your peers. If you know someone who has a book you need and you have a book they need, swap. This will really stick it to the powers that be - they'll miss out on business of two people.
Or if you know someone has a book you could use, offer them a modest price for it. If they paid $90 for it but the bookstore will only give them $20 back, offer them $40 - you both win.
Textbook prices have reached ridiculous levels, rivaling the cost of tuition. Students should not have to bear the brunt of greedy publishers and bookstores looking to make a buck.
Be resourceful when buying and show book barons they can't gouge students. It doesn't take much book smarts to save a bundle.