Thrifty Websites Pose Threat to Campus Bookstores
Jennifer Karnan
Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: Opinion
Many of these websites are even involved with charities. Collegebookrenter.com has given over $15,000 to the American Heart Association. Chegg.com plants a tree for every book rented, bought or sold. Greentextbooks.com recycles old books and donates a minimum of five percent of each purchase to the Arbor Day Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund. And Bookrenter.com has already raised $25,000 in funding for relief efforts in Haiti. Students are more encouraged to choose these options when they know their purchases are helping make the world a better place, as opposed to feeding money-hungry publishing companies.
So how do publishers get away with charging students an arm and a leg for books and supplies? The same way mountain resorts can charge people seven dollars for a tiny bottle of water in the lodge and the same way movie theaters can charge five dollars for a small box of Sour Patch Watermelons: inflation. And because they can.
People find ways around these travesties: they wise up and bring their own water to the mountain, their own candy to the movies, and now they buy, sell, swap and rent their textbooks online.
Still, something should be done. Students shouldn't be gauged for their books, tuition is bad enough as it is. The economy as a whole is suffering, and it makes the college experience more difficult when every penny is stretched to begin with. Students would love to be faithful to their campus bookstores, but tight budgets are forcing them to turn elsewhere.
If campus bookstores are to thrive, prices need to come down.
So how do publishers get away with charging students an arm and a leg for books and supplies? The same way mountain resorts can charge people seven dollars for a tiny bottle of water in the lodge and the same way movie theaters can charge five dollars for a small box of Sour Patch Watermelons: inflation. And because they can.
People find ways around these travesties: they wise up and bring their own water to the mountain, their own candy to the movies, and now they buy, sell, swap and rent their textbooks online.
Still, something should be done. Students shouldn't be gauged for their books, tuition is bad enough as it is. The economy as a whole is suffering, and it makes the college experience more difficult when every penny is stretched to begin with. Students would love to be faithful to their campus bookstores, but tight budgets are forcing them to turn elsewhere.
If campus bookstores are to thrive, prices need to come down.
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