A house bill constructed to provide more affordable textbooks for college students nationwide was brought forth to the 2009 General Assembly’s agenda. This bill proposes to make textbooks cheaper for students, sold back for a higher price and distributing an all around easier textbook buying experience for students.
Included in the bill are provisions that would require collegiate publishers to disclose full textbook pricing information to colleges and faculty, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. This includes wholesale prices of textbooks, descriptions of content revisions and other formats in which the books are applicable, such as paperback or unbundled. Colleges would also need to provide textbook information alongside course descriptions in their annual course catalogs, according to The Chronicle.
Anais Terry, is a Criminal Justice major at Point Park University that spends around $600.00 in the Point Park Bookstore each semester. “I think legislation would be beneficial to lower the cost of books, however students need to also know their resources and how to utilize them.”
Keri Painter Assistant manager of Point Park University was unable to disclose any information about the legislation because the campus store is owned by Barnes and Noble.
According to the January, 11th 2010 press release of Barnes and Noble booksellers; they would be the first to offer a Multi-channel textbook rental program. Students would be able to rent online, have the books shipped or be able to buy on their Barnes & Noble campus bookstore. This could result in college students across America saving millions of dollars.
Karin DePrefontaine is a Funeral Service Education major, who orders directly from the bookstore.
“I feel more comfortable getting my books from the school bookstore, because I know it’s the right text, and legislation for cheaper books available on campus would be beneficial to my preference of purchase.”
Barnes and Noble has been testing the new efforts starting at beginning of the fall 2009 semester. They started testing the rental program in 3 of its 636 campus bookstore. The program has now expanded to 25 of their campus bookstores. Rentals are growing in popularity among students; they are finding that this program can reduce up to 50% of costs for buying a new textbook. However, some are still unaware of the legislation in effect and new programs.
“I was unaware there was legislation on the table, but it sounds good.” Said Dylan Younkin.
Younkin, is a Film and Video Production major who purchases from the campus bookstore and sometimes online spending around $ 600.00 each semester.
The legislation will help to eliminate the high cost of textbooks, and able students a less financially stressful textbook purchase.
Tracy Tooch a Journalism and Mass Communications major says “If I absolutely need the textbooks for the classes I am taking I will purchase them from the Point Park bookstore.” Tooch said the costs can range anywhere from $200.00-900.00 per semester. She is aware of online resources, but also wishes there were a cheaper option.
“I feel the legislation is an excellent idea, there are so many other expenses students have to deal with such as living, food, leisure, education, etc. I feel books just add another unneeded expense for students to deal with and worry about.”
“We’ve had a tremendous response from students and faculty to our rental program and as a result have continued to expand it to other colleges and universities across the country,” said Max Roberts, President of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers
“What makes our program so unique is that we’ve made saving on textbooks even easier for students by providing them the option of ordering their rentals online and having them shipped or picked up at their campus bookstore.”
Barnes and Noble is the largest provider of college and university bookstores in the country, Serving four million students and 250,000 faculties.
No comments:
Post a Comment