Auburn, Ala. -- For most college students, the hardest part of each semester can be finding the right textbook at the best price. Luckily in Auburn, students have several options to ensure that they are getting the best “bang for their buck.”
Several students take advantage of Auburn University’s campus bookstore. Others might go to J&M Bookstore or Anders Bookstore downtown. Some use websites like Amazon, smartphone apps or even buy their friends’ used textbooks.
“I typically go to the Auburn Bookstore to buy my textbooks, just because it’s more convenient, as I’m already on campus,” said Peter Taliaferro, a senior at Auburn. “I remember as a freshman it was just easier to walk in with my schedule and have the people in the bookstore help me find my classes, the specific books and the supplies that I needed.”
At the end of every semester, the Auburn University Bookstore begins its quest to find out what books it will need to stock the bookstore with for the next semester. Once they get the list of textbooks from the registrar, they edit it down and make a master list. The Auburn University Bookstore is required by law to share this list with local bookstores, Anders Bookstore and J&M Bookstore, so that those bookstores are able to remain in business as textbook retailers.
“Competition is good, it has always been good,” said Russell Weldon, assistant director of technology and course materials at the Auburn University Bookstore. “A lot of college campuses when they don’t have off-campus stores, they are soft; they don’t do as well as they should. By Auburn always having off-campus stores, there has always been pressure on this store to do its best.”
These bookstores provide the options for students to rent textbooks for a lower price, or to buy textbooks and sell them back for a part of the price whenever the student no long needs the textbook. Part of this process is figuring out how to price their textbooks based off of looking at each other and by looking at other competitors like Amazon and textbook buying smartphone apps. No matter what, it seems, every textbook representative wants to make sure that Auburn students are getting their books in the most affordable way.
“We cooperate with each other because we want all of the students to get the right books at the best price that they can get, whether it be two books from us, one from the AU Bookstore and one from J&M,” said Charles Snoddy, manager of Anders Bookstore.
The Auburn University Bookstore described that their approach in helping students to find the best textbook option is just by being brutally honest with them.
“We will tell you even if we do not have the best price on something, on our website or in the store,” said Weldon. “We will just say, ‘Hey I think you may be able to find that X.’”
Meanwhile, Snoddy encourages all Auburn students to rent their textbooks and explains that textbook rentals are the best option.
“If you rent your textbooks, at the end of the semester if you feel like you want to buy the textbook, or if you want to keep the textbook, you can just pay the difference from that day,” said Snoddy. “There’s no risk in renting textbooks because if you feel like you don’t want the book you can give it back, but if you need it for the next semester or you want to keep it for yourself you just pay the difference.”
Another, more recent option for students on several college campuses is to gather or sell their textbooks by using a textbook smartphone app. One app that has had quite the presence on Auburn’s campus is called “Free Textbooks.”
“With the app, it is really easy. All you do is you can sell your books or you can buy books,” said Lindsey Dudley, a representative for “Free Textbooks.” “And so, based on what school you go to it will give you what books are offered for your course.”
Whenever students want to sell their textbooks back to the app, they can just take a picture of the barcode on the back of their textbook and send it in to a representative. The representative will let the student know how much they can get back for their textbooks and the student can put that amount right into their bank account. The representatives also pick up and drop off the textbooks free of charge.
However, other than its convenience, the Auburn University Bookstore makes a compelling argument on why buying textbooks right from them is the best option available for Auburn’s students. Not only does the money go back into the university, but they saved students $1.26 million on textbooks last year through rentals, the buy-back program, in-house discounting and the use of the new all access digital book program.
“The biggest way I think right now that we are saving students money is through the all access program, which is a digital program where we work with instructors to move to a digital format,” said Weldon. “We work with instructors and also publishers and are able to reduce the cost of those books by about 55 percent right now.”
It seems, in the end, that the most affordable option for buying textbooks would depend on the individual student. The all access program may serve more valuable to a student who prefers working entirely on their computer; buying a brand-new textbook may be more desirable to a student whose best friend is their highlighter; and renting may be the best option for a student who has no intent of holding on to their textbook past the end of the semester.
