Students buy cheaper textbooks online

After two years of buying books at the campus bookstore, junior Ben Greenberg was irritated. Although he could handle the costs of the books, several of his friends were struggling to keep up.

“Textbooks cost so much money,” Greenberg said. “I found I was spending hundreds of dollars even when I bought used books.”

That’s when Greenberg, a psychology major, tried to fix the book-buying system. Along with his friend Rui Xia, a junior business student he created TextYard.com. The Web site allows IU students to buy and sell books to each other while also listing the lowest price on Amazon.com.

But Greenberg’s Web site is just one of several cost-saving tools available to students. Electronic books and rentals are also becoming commonplace, providing students with a variety of options to suit their needs and budgets.

Jade Roth, vice president of books for Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, said a variety of purchasing options is the key to saving students money.

“The changes that I have noticed in buying patterns have stemmed for the last couple of years,” Roth said. “Students are looking for anything that will lower the cost of their books so we try to provide as many choices and options as possible.”

Roth said the single best way to cut costs is to buy used books, one of the choices available at the Barnes & Noble campus bookstores. The savings, she said, are often as much as 25 percent.

Freshman Tyler Frankel said she bought her books through the campus bookstore online.

“I ended up buying my books kind of late, and I just needed to get them,” Frankel said. “Cost, of course, is a big factor but on the Web site you could request used books and I did.”

While Frankel was able to get some of her books used, she said next year she would look into Half.com and Amazon.com before deciding to send her order to the bookstore.

Another freshman, Bailey Fleetwood, said she was able to cut the cost of books in half by buying from independent sellers online. Fleetwood’s mother, who works at IU, suggested checking the classifieds and eBay for used books. By the time all of her books arrived, Fleetwood had lowered her costs from $750 down to $300.

While purchasing books from independent sellers, such as Greenberg’s Web site facilitates, can be cost effective, Roth said campus bookstores cater directly to the University.

“We offer every book for every class,” Roth said. “If you’re using an arcane book or a high level book it can be hard to find. We’re committed to having every book for every student along with in-store and online solutions.”

Roth said another cost-saving tool is electronic textbooks. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers has been selling digital books for a number of years, but the technology doesn’t extend to every text.

This lack of availability is a big obstacle for “E-textbook” companies like CourseSmart. While digital books are eco-friendly and cost saving – often 50 percent cheaper than a new book – they are only slowly making their way onto the textbook scene.

CourseSmart brand ambassador and IU senior Grant Gernhardt said he was only able to get one of his textbooks in a digital version. However, he believes students will gravitate towards the technology as more titles are added.

“Most students don’t read everything that’s assigned to them,” Gernhardt said. “With an E-textbook, I can search for specific topics the teacher has assigned or look for key words. It makes studying much more efficient.”

A third option for students is rentals. Companies like Chegg.com allow students to rent books of “like new” quality, mailing them back at the end of the year.

Roth said Barnes & Noble has had a full-scale rental program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for more than a decade.

The bookseller is piloting more limited programs on other campuses. Students on these campuses could have four potential options for buying books: new, used, digital and rental.

Both Fleetwood and Frankel said they would consider renting textbooks in the future. In fact, Fleetwood said several of her friends rented successfully from Chegg.com this semester.

Right now Roth can’t say whether a limited rental program is on its way to IU. Barnes & Noble will evaluate the pilots and considering expansion based on the type of school and materials used. However, Roth said, in the highly competitive book market companies like Barnes & Noble, they are doing their best to give students what they want.

“We have done a lot of listening over the last few years,” Roth said. “We’re identifying what students were actually looking for. We have to respond to what faculty want and what students want, and sometimes those aren’t always the same.”