IU offers alternative to campus bookstore

IU students will soon be able to access a new online marketplace for buying and selling textbooks, an alternative to campus bookstores.

Textbook Friend will benefit students trying to sell outdated textbooks and class-specific course packets, which bookstores like T.I.S. will not take back.

“It’s sometimes tough to approach the textbook issue because prices are high, and they’re high because that’s the marketplace for textbooks,” said Scott Borer, senior and vice president of the IU Student Association Congress  “If they can sell them for a high price, they’re going to sell them for a high price.”

Students set the price for the textbooks or course materials they want to sell.

Textbook Friend will be available shortly for interested students to create an account.

Borer said Textbook Friend approached IUSA representatives and asked if they would like to provide this service to their students. The service is free, as long as the respective student government provides campus-wide marketing.

He said the biggest benefit for students is the ability to buy important resources at a lower price than the campus bookstore might offer.

“It’s nice to have an alternative to that,” Borer said. “When the campus bookstore is the only place you can get these, they can charge you a pretty steep price.”

Borer said the congress dedicated $500 of its budget to marketing this tool to students. 

Chris Kauffman, vice president of IUSA Administration, said IUSA is making no further efforts to reduce the costs of higher education at his time.

“We think the University is making good strides there,” Kauffman said.

However, he said IUSA’s discussion about more affordable higher education throughout the past two years has included a potential tax holiday for textbooks, which would designate one day of the year students can buy books without being taxed.

Kauffman said the Textbook Friend service would probably take a few semesters to reach its full potential.

“The costs are low, the potential benefits are high,” Kauffman said. “So we’re going to move forward and see what happens.”

Follow reporter Dani Castonzo on Twitter @Dani_Castonzo.