From The Lantern (Ohio State University):
With the closing of Student Book Exchange in December, students were left looking for alternatives to purchase textbooks other than those at Barnes and Noble.
Why the need for alternatives?
Without other options around campus, students are forced to go Ohio State’s official bookstore — arguably the only one within walking distance of campus. Barnes and Noble is the only bookstore remaining in the campus area, where students expect higher prices relative to online competitors like Amazon.
At Ohio State’s Barnes and Noble book store, for example, a copy of “Introduction to Graphics and Communications for Engineers” costs $87.25. On Amazon, the same copy costs $71.47.
In addition to its closing, on SBX’s website, a link for professors to buy textbooks for their classes redirects them to Barnes and Nobles’ official site.
Cary Amling, a fourth-year in mechanical engineering, said while she usually finds free or low-priced textbooks from friends in the same major, Amazon offers an alternative to Barnes and Noble.
Amling said she only buys textbooks if the class requires it for open-note tests.
“I buy the international versions. It’s the same content and usually way cheaper [than Barnes and Noble],” she said.
For Sarah Avdakov, a second-year in Spanish, using Facebook groups as an alternative for finding textbooks has had added benefits.
“As someone who buys and sells through the Facebook groups … it’s sort of like ‘I’ve already used this, I don’t need it anymore,’” Avdakov said. “You know there’s this network out there and you know there are people who have already gone through what you have gone through.”
Link to the rest at The Lantern
Textbook prices have always been a bone of contention. When I was at the tech school thirty years ago the cost of books exceeded tuition. One of the professors got so disgusted with it that he wrote his own textbook and had it locally printed and paper bound for his students to save them paying the exorbitant prices of commercial textbooks.
Add to the cost the discomfort of lugging 50 pounds of books around campus and cheap e-textbooks would be a real benefit for students. Seriously, most fields don’t see enough change to need updated textbooks every year or two, so what justifies $80 prices for textbooks?