Some students and administration may be having issues with the school’s book store’s prices as well as getting the correct amount of books ordered for students in a timely fashion. In the result of a student not being able to get their hands on their classes textbooks early on when classes first begin, students become at risk for falling behind early in the semester.
Professors hand in their book request forms in October, which indicates which books they will need for their class. “Some teachers get their book orders in late, because they’re looking at different options, plus there’s different faculty coming in and I’m not sure what they’re going to be using,” Bill Briddes, bookstore manager, said.
Since some professors hand in the requests late, the books may not be available in the bookstore right away, leaving students with concerns as to what they should do. “I just do the best that I can with getting them in as fast as possible,” Briddes said.
In these cases, the students tend to turn to outside sources to obtain their textbooks.
“Sometimes the CD’s could be missing or the pages could be ripped out. It’s usually safer just to go through the main source and get directly from the teachers,” Briddes said.
Many students turn to websites such as Amazon and Chegg to get their textbooks. Sellers such as Amazon and Chegg are personal sellers and that is why they are less expensive than the prices from the bookstore. Is it worth buying books from an outside source?
“If you are just paying for the cost of a book, yes. It does save you money, but once you pay for shipping and handling and then if you have to return the book, the same money you just saved, you end up spending, getting it and getting it back to them,” bookstore employee, Dyamond Gleaves, said. “You’re not really saving that much money.”
Another option on saving money is renting the book if they are in stock when needed. A student can have almost any book they need rented as long as it is returned at the end of the semester. This cuts back on costs immensely due to not having to buy the whole book itself and just borrowing it for a smaller fee.
As for teachers, according to a poll taken on department chairs, 3 out of 3 administrative positions say they use textbooks within the first week of classes, while only 1 out of 3 agree with having issues with the bookstore when it comes time to order books.
“I am not aware of any instances in my courses where a student doesn’t have the book because the bookstore ran out of copies,” Dr. John Brown, mathematics department chair, said. However, in the case of a student not being able to get their book in a timely fashion, teachers may take matters into their own hands.
“I leave a copy on reserve in the library, for that purpose,” Cynthia Halpern, romance languages and literature’s department chair, said.
It is unlikely for a student to not be able to get their hands on all of their books come the start of new classes but in case one or two books are out of stock, the most popular way for a student to prepare is to use outside sources like Amazon or Chegg, or simply ask the teacher if a copy of the text book has been sent to the library.
