Textbook costs, stress rising
Students, faculty try to find cheaper alternatives to pricey books for class
Joie Nishimoto and Remington Taum
Issue date: 9/14/09 Section: News
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Around campus, students can often be heard complaining about how expensive - and how many - textbooks they bought this semester.
"This semester I spent almost $300," said KCC student Barak Maor, 18. "The most I spent on textbooks was $350 in my first semester."
That's about the average cost for books per semester, according to students.
Sonya Kim, 18, said she works multiple jobs to be able to pay for her textbooks. And Naomi Wilbur, 20, works at Big City Diner as a hostess to earn money to buy books.
"I only bought three textbooks but I just ordered one more," Wilbur said. "The total was $316; my Japanese textbook with CD was already $120."
There are also a few other options other than buying a new book such as renting a textbook or purchasing a used book.
Web sites like Amazon.com, chegg.com and even craiglist.com can provide some alternatives to purchasing those heavily priced textbooks. The school bookstore sells some used books as well.
Kendra Zane, KCC bookstore manager, has been working at this school for more than 10 years. As bookstore manager, she handles the ordering of textbooks and supplies and makes sure everything arrives in a timely manner.
Zane said that if teachers decided to stick with an older edition of a textbook - "older" can mean up to only a few months old - it will depend on whether the publisher still has copies of it. Otherwise, the instructor has to order the newer edition, which students have to purchase at often a higher price.
The KCC bookstore also offers buy-backs on books for students. Zane added that they are only able buy back the books depending on the instructors requirements for the next semester.
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