Some students finding their ways around pricey texts

By Katherine Bisanz - The Daily Iowan

Published: Thursday, August 25, 2005

Students nationwide, citing textbook costs as a "worrisome" expense, are finding more ways to dodge shelling out money for the stacks of books, according to a national survey released Wednesday.

Fifty-five percent of students said they have to dip into their savings accounts to pay for books, according to the survey by Half.com and survey.com. One in six have avoided or dropped a class because the required books are too expensive. Another 56 percent said they didn't buy a textbook for a class because of its cost.

With the rising cost of textbooks paired with increasing anxiety stemming from how to pay for them, more and more alternatives to the campus bookstore are emerging.

One of them, BIGWORDS.com, is an online search engine that allows students to find books by typing their ISBNs on to the site. After a few moments, the site will return price comparisons for the books among several major websites, including Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

"Bigword's mission is to make textbook buying cheaper and easier than the university bookstores, which are known for their long lines and poor customer service," said John Bates, the chief executive officer of the website.

Though textbook retailers recognize the emergence of online alternatives to find books, going digital isn't always the cheapest option, they said.

"Online is good for older textbooks, but newer texts are not always cheaper online," said Keith Starman, the owner of Beat the Bookstore in the Old Capitol Town Center.

Meanwhile, Richard Shannon, the assistant director at the University Book Store, acknowledged that students are finding alternatives to a campus bookstore.

But he pointed out that going to a bookstore does not require additional shipping costs, unlike online shopping.

Despite the rising prevalence of going online for books, many UI students still opt to trek to a traditional retailer.

"I come to the IMU to buy my textbooks, because it is more convenient, and I can charge it to my parents' account," said UI sophomore Peter Basso as he went to pay for his textbooks Wednesday at the University Book Store.

UI senior Megan Armstrong had a simple answer on Wednesday as to why she also chose the University Book Store rather than somewhere else.

"Because it's here," she said.

E-mail DI reporter Katherine Bisanz at:

katherine-bisanz@uiowa.edu