Increases in textbook prices affect students more each semester as students pay between $300 and $600 per semester for their books and wait longer for buying books.
Store manager of Barnes & Noble at Mississippi State Bobby Hamous and textbook manager of Campus Bookmart Dale Strickland both said they have noticed students waiting longer into the semester to purchase books because prices are so high. Students want to make sure they will actually be using textbooks in their courses before buying them, they said.
Vice president for student affairs Bill Kibler said that the problem of high textbook prices is worsened by the frequency of new editions that are issued by the publishers. “If faculty always moves to the new edition, then it limits the timeframe that textbooks can be recycled as used books,” he said.
Hamous, Strickland and store manager of Bully’s Textbook Exchange Michael Lopez all agree that the rapidly increasing textbook prices are due to how often publishers come out with new editions.
According to a recent article in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, “Publishers claim the revision cycle is mainly driven by instructors who want the most current material and may seek products from competitors if publishers are unable to meet the demand.”
“Book prices have always been high,” junior biology major Kelli Fayard said.
“All of my classes require books. Prices shouldn’t be so high for textbooks you’ll only use once,” she added.
Fayard also said stores get more profit when students sell their books back.
Because of high textbook prices, MSU faculty and administrators, local bookstores and the Student Association are trying to come up with ways for students to save money when buying books.
Hamous said Barnes & Noble offers more used books to combat prices. “We give students 50 percent back on buyback prices if they will be reused next semester,” he said.
Hamous wrote a letter to MSU faculty encouraging them to turn in textbook request forms early so that students will be able to receive more money when they resell them.
In the letter, Hamous wrote “Due to early textbook requests from most faculty for the fall term, we were able to put over $400,000 back into our students’ pockets at the end of last term.”
“We were also able to save our students over $160,000 versus the new textbook cost at the beginning of this term,” he added.
There was some discussion about making an agreement with MSU faculty not to change the editions of textbooks used in their courses any more frequently than every three years, Kibler said. “That would allow students the opportunity to take advantage of reselling their books and purchasing used textbooks for many courses,” he said.
Actual initiative has not been taken on this topic.
Another factor of high textbook prices is bundles that professors have begun to require for classes. The bundles include a textbook along with academic supplements such as computer programs. Although purchasing a bundle would be cheaper than buying the supplements and textbook separately, students perceive the package as being more than they are willing to pay.
“I think book prices are really high and unreasonable,” sophomore architecture major Chelsea Clark said. “You don’t get your money’s worth.”
Bully’s Textbook Exchange distributes coupons that give students discounts when buying books, Lopez said.
“In general, prices go up every year, and we have no control over them,” Strickland said. “I feel that our prices are competitive, and we just try to keep them as low as we can,” she added.