Reading through his class notes repeatedly, Philip Chan, 18, business major, is worried about his upcoming test. He is worried because he still hasn’t saved enough money to buy the textbooks for his classes, due to the ever-increasing prices of textbooks.

Chan is probably not the only student at EC who is stuck in this situation.

Publishers have been publishing new editions almost every semester and therefore, increasing the textbook prices. Students are not able to buy used books for some of their classes because of this, which creates another problem.

Many students are buying their textbooks from the bookstore across the street from EC, but that is not the solution to this problem.

It should be understood that the money that the bookstore makes from selling the textbook goes back to the students in many ways that students don’t realize. The revenue of the bookstore goes to the auxiliary services on campus.

For example, part of the budget for rallies sponsored by the Associated Student Organization (ASO) comes from the revenue of the bookstore. Other programs such as the journalism program, the sports program and the different clubs on campus are funded by shares of the bookstore’s revenue. Buying textbooks from other bookstores actually descreases the amount of money that these different student-oriented campus programs will recieve.

Instructors should read through both the old and the new editions of the textbooks that they are going to use for their classes, find out if there are a lot of changes in the new edition of the textbook, and then determine whether or not switching to the new edition is necessary.

Sometimes students have friends who have taken one class during the previous semester and then they borrow textbooks from their friends for the upcoming semester. They may sell the book back to the bookstore when they are done with their classes, which benefits both the students and the bookstore. Students can also check out textbooks from the Schauerman Library when they have exams of quizzes coming up in classes.

Another solution is for a student to get together with a friend and take the same classes during the semester; that way they can buy one textbook for each class and share between themselves.

Students can take letters conserning textbook prices to Bryce Matson at the ASO office, located in the Student Activities Center.