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news
No textbook relief
in sight
By Jamillah R.
Gabriel
On-line Forty-Niner
As textbook prices
continue to rise, it is unlikely that students will be able
to save any money when buying books this semester or in the
future.
According to Roman
Gulon, general manager of the Forty-Niner Shops, Inc. which
operates University Bookstore, publishers are responsible
for the approximate 2 percent annual increase in the cost
of textbooks.
Publishers disagreed,
however. Kristen McCarthy, vice-president of Corporate Communications
at Thomson Learning, said students need to know that the increase
in prices is "not a matter of making a profit off of
the student [but] it is a matter of creating the textbook
and all of the materials that go with it."
Thomson's director
of campus marketing, Steven Hochheiser, echoed this sentiment.
The main reason for the rise in costs is the shared cost of
a "teacher's learning package," Hochheiser said.
This package usually includes items such as an instructor's
manual, class management tools, software and other supplementary
materials.
Also, used books
sales cut into the profits, forcing publishers to raise prices
on subsequent editions to make a return on investments.
Production costs
are also much higher than they have been in the past, Hochheiser
said, and much of the cost accounts for the pedagogy of the
textbook ? that is, everything that comprises a textbook except
for the actual words.
Although the bookstore
does mark up the prices of textbooks an average of 26 percent,
this percentage goes directly toward the operating expenses
of the Bookstore.
"We try to
keep the prices as low as possible," Gulon said.
Most of the Bookstore's
profits are derived from the purchase of other items such
as clothing and gifts. The Bookstore does not make much of
a profit on textbook sales. In fact, the Bookstore makes less
than a 1 percent profit, Gulon said.
While some students
try to circumvent the high costs of textbooks by purchasing
them online or at alternative bookstores, some students feel
the prices are similar no matter where one goes.
Curie Hu, a transfer
student from Pasadena City College majoring in art, said books
are generally the same price everywhere. She found that prices
at Bookstore are comparable to other bookstores she has frequented.
Though cost is
an issue, Hu said she is more concerned with the lack of availability.
She said she would have to wait almost two weeks before the
last of her books will be available.
The issue of availability
resurfaced as a concern for Melissa McCune, a business and
design major, who feels prices should be lower, but just as
important, textbooks should be in stock so students are not
forced to wait weeks for them to arrive.
Gulon said there
were some textbook shortages, but the bulk of the shortages
were a result of "over-enrollment in classes which was
not anticipated at all."
The unexpected
closing of University Text on June 6 was also attributed to
the shortages. As a remedy, the bookstore airships the books
that are ordered to alleviate the shortage and in the meantime,
copies chapters of the books at no cost to the student.
Yet another concern
of kinesiology major Latessia Matthews is the scarcity of
used books. As a result, students are forced to buy new books,
which cost considerably more than used ones.
The availability
of used books also depends on whether faculty submit their
requisitions to the bookstore in a timely manner, Gulon said.
"If we know
before the fall semester, then we can buy back those books,"
Gulon said. "But if the bookstore does not receive the
requisitions on time, then new books must be purchased.
Matthews also feels
that professors always try to get new editions of textbooks,
leaving some students stuck with prospect of buying new books,
or not being able to sell old editions back to the bookstore.
In both cases, the student must bear the brunt of keeping
up with the financial burden of textbook purchases.
In the meantime,
students might try looking to online sources and other bookstores
for reduced, although the differences in price may be too
little to truly make a difference in one's wallet.
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