Alas, another semester comes to a close here at ASU, and students are focused on finishing up some last-minute assignments, studying for finals and putting the finishing touches on class projects and papers.
There is another tradition students participate in at the end of the semester: book buy-backs. Who doesn’t want some extra change in their pocket to kick start the summer with?
The only problem is most of us spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks, and we only receive a couple bucks for them when we go to sell them back. I spent $271 on books last semester (which is not a lot compared to others) and only got $18.75 at the buy-back.
It’s common to spend hundreds on books that are only needed for 16 weeks, and pennies have to be pinched even tighter to survive the semester.
To offset high book costs, college bookstores around the nation are now offering more textbook rentals and e-books.
Renting textbooks offers the same course content at a discounted rate. It sounds great, but there is a catch: You need to return the materials at the end of the semester. This option to save money is very practical if you know you will not need to use the textbook after the semester ends.
E-books are also becoming another popular and cheap alternative to buying textbooks. E-books are electronic books that are available to view on the Internet or to download to a computer or e-reader.
E-books are starting to become very popular because of the various amounts of e-readers available to view them on. The Amazon Kindle, the Apple iPad and even laptops can all support an e-book.
There are many pros to having e-books. E-books are sold at a reduced price and offer users the ability to store all their books on a single, convenient device. E-books are also very environmentally friendly because they do not require an outrageous amount of paper to publish. Additionally, many include search and highlight functions.
I got an e-book for the first time this semester, and I found it nice to have my book on my laptop, easy to carry around and always there. Being able to search for keywords on the e-book and have them highlighted for me has also been very convenient.
The e-book market is growing fast. According to the Association of American Publishers, e-books outsold both hard cover and paperback books for the first time in February.
With the e-book industry growing and the textbook e-book industry sure to follow, it will be interesting to see 10 years from now if e-book becomes the dominant reading medium at the college bookstores. If the prices remain low, this just might happen.
Brian can be reached at bjutting@asu.edu
