 "Photo: Jonny Green")
Five hundred pairs of men's tube socks, 72 Old Spice deodorant sticks, 19 copies of "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (Deluxe Edition), two tickets to a U2 concert and one Coach shoulder bag. Any of these items could be purchased with the average $600 American college students spends on textbooks each semester, according to the Student Advocacy Network.
Senior biology major Paige Castelino said $600 can be burdensome for even the hardest working students.
"It's a lot of money, especially when you are thinking that college students already have to pay a lot for tuition," Castelino said.
In order to keep these semi-annual costs under control, many students said they've begun to turn to nontraditional venues in search of the lowest prices.
"Originally I was buying textbooks off-campus because I figured they would be better prices than at the MSC," said Ben Becker, a sophomore physics major. "But [starting] last semester, I figured out it was better to look in advance and get your textbooks online."
There is an entire online industry devoted to selling textbooks to budget-conscious students. Web sites such as Half.com, Textbooks.com, Ecampus.com and others are devoted to thethe used-textbook market. Major book-vendors Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com have also tapped into the profits of online textbook sales.
Supplementing the growing diversity of vendors, additional purchasing options are being made available to consumers. Downloadable e-textbook and textbook rentals offer a popular alternative to their bulky brethren. Web sites such as Chegg.com, BookRenter.com or CampusBookRentals.com all offer e-books.
Recently, rental options have spread beyond the World Wide Web. Campus bookstores, such as those of the University of North Texas and University of Texas at Arlington, began offering textbook rental services last fall. As a result of their success, additional textbook vendors are following there lead and offering textbook rentals.
Traditions Bookstore, which has three locations in Bryan-College Station, initiated a rental program this semester.
Cory McLaren, general merchandising manager for Traditions, said the program came in response to the changing market for textbooks.
"The reason we came up with the rental program was to compete with the Internet market, so we can get a cheaper textbook for the students," McLaren said. "It's also much more convenient because they can just come into the store rather than scouring the Internet, and it's also more accurate because we get the list of books from the University."
McLaren said the feedback has been positive, and the frequency of textbook rentals was proof.
"We've had a ton of people coming through the stores and probably 80 to 90 [percent] of these people are renting textbooks if they can," McLaren said.
Not all books are available for renting. Less popular textbooks or those that have high turnover rates due to frequently published new editions are unprofitable to offer as rentals because bookstores may not be able to sell them the following semester.
Nebraska Book Co., the textbook distributor for Traditions Bookstore, provides textbooks to 275 locations nationwide. Of these stores, 105 are offering a textbook rental program.
Barnes and Noble, which is the supplier for the MSC Bookstore, also has a textbook rental program; 35 locations are offering the service.
Karen DiScala, corporate communications manager for Barnes and Noble, said the program would look to expand in the wake of its early success.
"The students seem to like having another cost-saving option available to them," DiScala said. "We intend to significantly expand our rental program to many more schools in 2010."
DiScala did not know whether A&M would be one of the schools to participate.
By the numbers "Understanding American Politics and Government," John J. Coleman Average Prices: New copy at bookstore: $84 Used copy at bookstore: $63 Rental: $56.44 eBook: $64.32
