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The DoG Street Journal

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Book Smarts for the Street Smart

Jen Steffensen, DSJ Staff Reporter

It's no secret: textbooks are ridiculously expensive and college bookstores are ripping students off. Whether you're footing the $600 book bill or kindly passing it off to your parents, it's important to consider the many options available beyond the Barnes & Noble basement.

For one, there's our own Student Assembly book sale. If you're smart enough to realize that the new edition of your biology book has only changed three sentences since last year, then the student sale offers you a marvelous solution to our inflated college bookstore prices. With all books 50% off the original Barnes & Noble prices and the money circulating back to your fellow classmates, it's a sale you shouldn't miss.

Unfortunately, with this semester's sale only open between 1 and 5 p.m. last Tuesday, it was easy to miss. Tough luck if you arrived to campus Tuesday evening or were waiting to buy books until you did a trial-run of your classes.

Although Trinkle Hall makes the atmosphere of the sale less claustrophobic and more organized than before, finding books there is like scavenging a flea market; oftentimes you'll come away empty handed, but if luck strikes, you can end up with one or two great finds. Make sure to get their early for the best selection.

Due to Barnes & Noble's iron-tight grip on the required book lists, if you hadn't already stopped at the bookstore before the student sale, you were at a loss for what to buy. Thankfully, Virginia21 is now fighting to require colleges to publish the required book list for student access before classes begin. Until that happens, the student sale will continue to be a bit inconvenient. However, the low prices make it worth the hassle of toting around your pen and paper.

Overall, the most frustrating part of this sale is the lack of books available. The obvious solution is that more students need to sell their books back to the student sale at the end of each semester. And there's every reason to do this. If the books don't sell, they'll be returned. If they do, the rate will be much higher than at the bookstore, although you'll have to wait a semester for the check. Just be smart about it. If your books didn't sell in the past, think why. Maybe your class wasn't being offered again this semester. The odds are better if you check to see when the class will be offered next and sell back your book at the appropriate time.

If you didn't find what you need at the student sale, the next best bet is the Internet. One of the best sites out there for new and used books is bigwords.com.. If you simply type the desired book title, author, or ISBN number, the program will run a cost comparison for that book at every major store. You'll see the lowest available price for your book or combination of books including shipping, promotions, and coupons, as well as the prices offered by all the major book sellers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBay, Abebooks, and Bookbyte. According to the site, users have saved $70.98, or 35% on average when buying two or more textbooks. So keep those Barnes & Noble receipts and get ready to make some returns. You'll be shocked when you compare the bigword prices with what you just dolled out to the bookstore.

By far, the cheapest way to get your books is to check them out at the library for free. The selection is limited, but if the book is old and famous and you don't have a compulsive need to highlight, you may be in luck. This works especially well for English classes. The cat's out of the bag now though, so you better hurry before a classmate beats you to the checkout desk.

Tuition and housing is expensive enough. Even if you or your parents can afford to pay the obscene book bill, out of principle, don't let Barnes & Noble monopolize the market. You were smart enough to get into college, now be an equally smart consumer. Investigate your alternatives and you're bound to save.

Jen Steffensen is a staff columnist for the DSJ. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.