Cameron Cyprain
Staff Writer
Most students are aware of the recent distribution deal between Pierce College and Barnes & Noble, in which the sale of textbooks and education related products would be offered. Apparently, the shift in management was necessitated by the need for a more streamlined user experience and purchase process.
The method of locating books, calculating prices based on various options such as renting, choosing eTextbooks, and a better trade in system have accomplished just that, and it’s safe to say that obtaining the much needed school materials is a step up from the previous model.
However, students are feeling the heat from highly inflated book prices. With the steady increase in price of tuition, food, and on-campus housing, these expenses are doing tight budgeted students no justice, and many are opting out of purchasing their textbooks entirely.
This method of nickel and diming has many Pierce students expressing feelings of outrage and discontent at what some are calling “an act of greed and insensitivity,” as stated by choir student Kevin Matt. So what is a financially disadvantaged student to do, or any scholar for that matter?
Alternative consumer websites including Amazon, half.com, and Chegg.com continue to offer textbooks for numerous courses from nutrition to physics, offering them at large fractions off the Barnes & Noble prices.
As an example, one might search for a Philosophy 101 textbook on the school website and expect to pay around $110 when new or $80 when used. That’s a pretty steep investment for the average student, especially considering that the book will be used for one quarter and has a trade-in value of 10 percent. All this assumes that Pierce/Barnes & Noble will accept the book; many times the bookstore will decline it if a new edition has been published, nearly eliminating the value of the previous textbook.
On sites like Amazon, the majority of the time people will find the exact same textbook they are seeking for cheap. The Philosophy 101 textbook goes for around $38.88 as opposed to the previously mentioned prices. What’s more, one can keep the book for life, or trade it back to Amazon for 70 percent its original value for a total return profit of $27. Technically only $11 is spent. This trade-in money always comes back as Amazon gift card money so students can constantly recycle the money they get back each quarter. Compared to the bookstore prices, the student would have saved $71 in contrast to the price of a new book and $41 to a used one.
It’s little changes like this that can make achieving a quality education all the more possible. Critical savings on school materials can be the difference between graduating in debt and graduating as a liberated individual, free from financial obligations.
