Textbook costs lead students to find ways to save money.
Every semester it’s the same story, as students prepare to spend from $200 to $500 and more on textbooks alone. The price of books has always been a struggle for college students. Some textbooks can cost up to $200.
Students traditionally complain about the high cost of books, and about books that are used only one semester.
The length of time that a book is used rests solely on the professors and textbook committees decide which books to buy.
Many professors, such as Dr. Douglas Carr, in the communications department, use the same books for as long as they can to offset the cost of textbooks.
“I rarely change the textbooks that I use in class, usually just when there is an update and only if the update is substantial,” Carr said.
For some of the two-part classes, the same book may be used for both parts, given that classes are taken back-to-back and no new edition was created between those times.
Students can buy their books on Internet sites, such as amazon.com, eBay or other alternatives. According to Angela Martinez, textbook manager at Valle Verde, this might not be such a good idea.
“Most students come back to the bookstore to exchange their books because of wrong editions,” she said.
There are not that many alternatives for students to get their books. They can purchase used books from the college and alternative bookstores. These used books are sold at a 75 percent of its original price.
Bookstores usually buy books back from students at the end of each term, but they only pay half of the purchase price.
“We always pay 50 percent of the cost for used books and we resell them for 75 percent of the price,” said Martinez.
Another popular option among college students is to photocopy the books in Juarez for about a third of the price. The downfall of this is that it’s illegal under the copyright laws of the United States and students can have the copies seized at the international checkpoints and also be fined for contraband.
The bookstores also work in conjunction with publishers to offset the cost of books by creating custom editions and packet specially designed for the El Paso Community College, according to Martinez.
“These books are created exclusively for the school and are sold in packages where the lab manual is included and sells cheaper than if they were bought separately,” said Martinez.
The problem with this option is that custom books can only be bought and sold at the EPCC bookstore.
The bookstore also offers a low price guarantee and will price match other local stores.
