Christmas break is over and school is back in full effect. Mississippi State University students are back to hitting the snooze button and tackling homework. However, there is one thing students dread more than early mornings and loads of homework, and that is buying books. The prices of textbooks are unbearable for most students, so they look for alternatives. Students now have access to so many helpful sites to rent textbooks at reasonable prices. Some of the most popular are Chegg.com, Freetextbooks.com and Amazon.com. This is great for students, but what about for the publishers? In the end, who really loses — the students or the publishers?
   Most people would say the publishers are losing, of course. Publishers spend a lot of time and money publishing new textbooks and selling them to the students and universities, only for companies to sell and rent their books at a much cheaper price. The companies buy new books from publishers and also let students sell back the books they have already bought for a profit so they can resell those books for a higher cost. Companies lose money because they are not the main sellers for textbooks anymore. Instead, they decided to make custom books so that students would be forced to buy from them. This plan works. Students who are required to have custom books have no other choice but to buy from publishers and university bookstores. This also can be avoided because there are some sites that sell or rent custom books if they receive them.
   Also, teachers understand the struggle for students overpaying for books. Most times, if it is possible, professors will require the cheapest textbook they can find or just not require a textbook for their course at all. As a fellow student, a weight was lifted off my shoulders when my professors told me their textbook requirements were inexpensive or that they were not going to require a textbook. It looks as though the students are winning this tug of war, but are they really?
    Let’s look at this from a different perspective. According to an article written on “Edtech Digest” titled, “Who are the Bad Guys in the College Textbook Market?” by Jeff Lorton, universities buy textbooks directly from publishers and place them in campus bookstores because it helps to financially support the universities. If students do not buy from the campus bookstore, their university suffers greatly. Also, what will happen when publishers are not able to produce textbooks that students need because they are financially unequipped? If students continue to buy the same reused books, what will happen once the book is no longer in shape to use? Will they be able to get a new one if publishers go out of business?
   Even after all of these questions, students still ultimately come out as the winners. As of now, we are able to buy or rent our books cheaper than publishers would like and are also able to get our hands on new textbooks from campus bookstores if there is a need. Because of the popularity of these custom textbooks and textbook companies buying new books, publishers still make a profit. An article in the New York Times titled, “Textbook Publisher to Rent to College Students,” says publishers now take it upon themselves to rent to students to keep up with the competition. However, it is possible this could change one day and students could find themselves without the books they need.    
   So when you shell out $100 for that custom book, keep in mind that someone has to keep the books coming. Maybe it won’t hurt so much to part with your money.