Attending college is one huge expense. With students paying for classes, parking permits and health fees among other items, one of the few options that students have to spend less on is textbooks.
No longer are students given only one option when it comes to purchasing textbooks. With online sites and the textbook store located on Crenshaw Boulevard, right across from campus, students have many options.
Although the Bookstore prices are not favorable among students, a portion of the Bookstore profits funds many of the campus groups. Those groups include the Auxillary Service Board, the athletic department and even the Union newspaper.
With more students turning online for book buying and rentals, as well as the Bookstore located across from campus, the deficit in the Bookstore profits are going to make it difficult to fund various student activities on campus.
“We give funding to various campus groups that don’t get adequate funds; clubs that can’t fund themselves,” Rebecca Cobb, director of student development, said.
The Bookstore gives $276,000 that goes primarily to the athletic department, art department, dance performances, all of the plays and some to the forensics team.
“I know that with the recession we are taking a huge toll and it’s even affecting myself because the ASB gets money as well,” Lawrence A. Moreno, ASB Promotions Specialist, said.
The money that helps fund the groups will be reduced significantly with about $100,000 less than the overall budget.
For groups and clubs on campus looking to get financial help for their clubs, they can submit information to hopefully get some assistance.
“Groups can submit a special request to receive funding and then the request gets reviewed,” Cobb said.
Other groups that the bookstore funds includes the Union Newspaper, the ASO, with other parts going to the First Year Experience and Honors Transfer Program.
With textboook prices being cheaper than the prices at the Bookstore, more students are turning to their computers to purchase necessary materials.
More students prefer online book buying and renting than going to the bookstore because the online bookstores provide a range of affordable prices specific to their own budget.
The bookstore prices are higher than those outside the store because there are “pricing standards in the industry,” Julie Bourlier, director of the bookstore said.
Many students said they have a lot more things to worry about than stressing over the price of textbooks.
“I get my books from either Amazon or Chegg,” Taline Searles, 19, sociology major, said. “They usually have all the books I need, way cheaper than the ones at the bookstore.”
Chegg, Amazon, Half.Com and other textbook websites are the most common websites EC students visit to buy or rent their books.
“Part of the problem is that we don’t have any adequate revenue to keep the sales going,” Cobb said.
However, if all students bought an ASB sticker, we wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on the bookstore profits and it would “help keep a healthy account,” Cobb said.
According the the EC website, the ASB sticker gives discounts to its very own from bookstore.
The Bookstore profit is mainly where they receive the funds so they can get funneled into the departments that need it the most.
However, with some students taking many classes and not receiving financial assistance, some students don’t have an option of where to purchase their textbooks that is why they must find cheaper alternatives for their budget.
“I was denied financial aid so it’s already hard as it is to pay for my classes and textbooks,” Omar Castro, 19, business administration major, said.
Castro also said he would consider buying textbooks from the Bookstore from now on to possibly help fund our college.
Although students like Searles and Castro avoid purchasing their required reading material at the Bookstore, not everyone is buying their textbooks from an online source.
“My parents give me money for books and the Bookstore is where my sister told me to buy my books from, so that’s where I buy them,” Mary Kate Underhill, 19, theater major said.
Although Underhill is one of few who turn to the Bookstore for materials, she said she would consider buying textbooks somewhere cheaper if her parents ever stopped giving her money because that would “save a lot of money.”
For students who would like to purchase their textbooks at the Bookstore, it also offers discount priced textbooks at a “used” price early on in the semester when textbook availability is greater.
