Sticker shock at campus bookstore

UNC system is working on textbook rentals, buyback programs to help students foot costly book prices

For college students and parents who wandered through the busy UNC Student Stores in Chapel Hill over the weekend, the sign atop a 4-foot tall mound of shrink-wrapped organic chemistry books was a little scary: $201.05.

Nearby, a human anatomy and physiology book was selling for $252.40.

Rising tuition isn't the only thing taking a bite out of parents' wallets. The cost of textbooks nearly tripled from 1986 to 2004 in the United States, according to the most recent data studied by the federal Government Accountability Office.

But the tab for textbooks could be headed downward for students in the UNC system.

In March, the UNC Board of Governors passed rules designed to reduce the cost of textbooks. Most notably, by January 2008, each campus must have either a book rental program or a system to guarantee that books for large introductory courses would be bought back at a set price. And average textbook costs would be taken into account when campus leaders request tuition increases.

Campuses are also testing ways to help students save money. They're pressing professors to choose books earlier so stores can acquire enough used copies to meet demand. They're urging students to buy their books during the state's tax-free weekend. And they're making plans to buy back more used books and then resell them the following semester.

Changes can't come soon enough for students.

N.C. State University senior Daniel Young Sr. spent $103 for two used books three weeks ago.

"I think it's just absurd," he said.

While Young shelled out big dollars for used books, a box near the store counter held newly outdated books that were offered free. "I don't understand why they couldn't use a book two or three years," he said.

Textbooks are constantly revised and updated, with new editions quickly rendering the old versions worthless.

Students want to buy used books, but there aren't enough to go around. Publishers sometimes bundle software and study guides with new books, raising the price for students.

The guaranteed buyback plan should improve the situation, especially for freshmen and sophomores who take a lot of introductory classes, said John Jones, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Student Stores.

"What it will do is increase the number of books for which students will be paid a higher price through buyback," Jones said. "The whole idea is the net cost to the students is reduced."

That sounds good to Quanta Edwards, a junior English major at UNC-CH, who piled paperback novels and thick English anthologies into her shopping basket Friday for a total of $311.

She recently tried to sell back two $70 books to no avail. "They were saying they had swapped editions," she said. "That usually means changing the wording on a couple of pages. I don't feel like it's worth forcing the students to buy a whole new book over."

But books are used at least two or three years at campuses that operate rental programs -- Appalachian State, Elizabeth City State and Western Carolina universities.

Students at those schools pay a flat rate each semester to rent their main textbooks; they occasionally spend more on supplemental books. The rental fee is $87 at ASU, $107 at WCU and $150 at ECSU.

"They are thrilled to death with it," said Pedro Holley, manager of Elizabeth City State's bookstore.

Holley, a graduate of ECSU, rented his books for $25 in 1972. "We have been making it easy for the students for a long, long time," he said.

Renting is easy on students, but faculty members argue that the system limits their choices of books for each course. In 2004-05, the Faculty Senate at Appalachian State recommended abolishing the rentals. In the end, ASU decided to keep the system. Now it's so popular it's a recruiting tool for the university.

Appalachian State's rental program began in 1938. Other campuses determined it would be too costly to start a rental system at today's prices, because it would require an enormous up-front investment. NCSU estimated it would cost $8.5 million for books, plus nearly $600,000 in operating expenses.

At UNC-CH last week, some students said they were happy to hear about the efforts to cut costs. "I think it will help the people coming in," said Heather Jones, a junior, who spent about $600 on six books. Her younger brother at High Point University had spent about $1,000, she said.

Others don't get too worked up about textbook bills. It's just a fact of life in college, said James Browning, a UNC-CH freshman from Corpus Christi, Texas, who spent $415 for four books.

"I figure I have to buy the books, so I have to pay the prices," he said. "I go for all the used books I can."