Leaders of the Mississippi State University’s Student Association are looking at ways to provide students with relief from pricey textbooks by providing purchasing tips and working with university officials to assist students with textbook expenses for the upcoming semester.
SA President Blake Jeter said the original textbook exchange program he proposed has fallen through, but other actions are being taken to help students with textbook expenses for the upcoming semester.
During Jeter’s campaign, he told students he hoped a textbook exchange aimed to help reduce the expenses of students would be organized during his term.
Jeter said with the economy’s recession, there have been many budget cuts and the process to get the textbook exchange set up is just not feasible at this time.
“It’s something I campaigned on and I worked really hard on in the spring and summer, but I kind of had to abandon the idea,” Jeter said.
Jeter said his plan was to create a Web site where textbooks students wanted to sell could be listed, and students looking for a particular book could find it and set up a time to meet and exchange books, much like craigslist.org.
“While it wouldn’t be an exchange site per say, it would work as a mediator,” Jeter said.
Jeter said he started working with Information Technology Services to build the exchange site and the proposed cost to build and maintain the site was going to cost around $5,000 to $7,000.
“Budgets got cut and we didn’t have a budget item for [the Web site], so it kind of got put on the back burner for me,” Jeter said.
Sophomore English major Lisa Fulgham said if any type of book exchange was ever put into place, she would be sure to participate.
“We could greatly undercut the prices of the bookstore,” Fulgham said. “People would get more back for the books they were selling.”
Junior business information systems major Danielle Hogsett said she thinks a potential book exchange would be a great idea for financial reasons.
“When we buy the books at a bookstore, we don’t get back half the money we paid for it,” Hogsett said. “An exchange would save students a lot of money, as well as time, because sometimes they are out of books at the bookstore.”
While it is not yet possible monetarily to facilitate a book exchange, Jeter said he is still determined to assist students with the issue of textbook expenses. He said since he could not get the exchange Web site up and running, he started to focus his attention on other areas of the issue where he could potentially make a tangible difference.
Jeter said the SA has been focusing on things they can control, like e-mailing faculty about adoptions (what book they will be using next semester) and working with the Institute for Higher Learning staff and university administrators to draft reforms, which should improve the situation.
Jeter said the adoption of books can help students out in a big way.
“The bookstore estimates that every 10 percent that book adoption rate goes up, they can give back $50,000 to $60,000 a year to students,” Jeter said.
In addition to the work the SA members are doing in terms of textbook adoption, they are also calling on students to do their part to make textbook expenses more feasible.
“We want all students to go to their classes and ask their professors if they have turned in their adoptions yet,” Jeter said. “The more used books we have, the more choices students have and the cheaper the books are.”
Jeter said the SA is launching Cheap Textbook Appreciation Week. The group will be passing around flyers with some tips for students. Jeter said he wants to specifically educate freshmen about the process of book buying.
“We want them to go to the first day of class and see if they really need the particular book listed,” Jeter said. “We want to make them aware that Barnes & Noble does price matching, as well as suggest a few Web sites for them to potentially buy books from.”
Many know the majority of students find textbook prices a little unreasonable, particularly if you only open the book once or twice and then the bookstore will not buy it back.
Fulgham said she thinks the book prices are ridiculous, and she knows students need that money for other necessities.
“I think I’ve spent close to $1,000 some semesters,” Fulgham said. “Truthfully, my books for this semester are on my credit card, and that’s never a good thing.”
Jeter said the SA knows with the economy in a recession some students and parents are hurting for money.
“We looked at it critically and thought, ‘What can we do as a Student Association that can help,'” Jeter said. “Paying 10 percent or 20 percent less on textbooks each semester really adds up.”
Hogsett said she believes the SA is doing a good job with the current textbook expense situation.
“They are doing all they can do,” Hogsett said. “It is going to be a tough process.”