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After a week of school, homework assignments are being handed out and to-do lists are growing. It’s also time to spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks, if it hasn’t happened already.

With the gloomy economy, more students are turning to alternative bookstores in search of the cheapest textbooks.

Brandon Goodrich, Dallas fifth-year senior, says he usually buys his books at University Book Shop and sells them to Half Price Books, where he receives between $20 to $80 for one semester’s worth of books. The store has about 2,000 textbooks, Kelly Cline, manager of Half Price books, said.

Another place students can turn to is Beat the Bookstore, located on Massachusetts Street. Shireen Kukereja, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, junior, bought a biology book for $78 at the Jayhawk Bookstore last week, but saw the same book for $10 less at Beat The Bookstore.

“I’ll most definitely go back,” Kukereja said.

Denise Keating, Beat the Bookstore co-owner, said her store experienced problems this semester because some professors didn’t turn in their book request lists on time.

“Professors are supposed to have their book lists in by October,” Keating said. “It depletes the market because we don’t know what to buy,”

Beat The Bookstore buys all of its books from students and the store guarantees to sell them back at the cheapest price in Lawrence, Keating said. She also said that if the store wasn’t buying a book back but another store is, employees will tell students where to go.

Students can also turn to online resources to find inexpensive books. One Web site, bigwords.com, helps students by comparing textbook prices from multiple online merchants, for free.

“It takes the difficulty out of comparing prices,” Jeff Sherwood, founder of bigwords.com, said. “It only covers merchants with proven track records.”

In addition to Web sites such as Amazon.com and eBay.com, students are also turning to Craigslist.com.

Craigslist.com allows students to sell their books, or any other item, for whatever price they want. Sometimes, the exchange can be done in person, which cuts down on shipping costs and ensures the transaction is safe.

Eli Underwood, Lenexa freshman, posted his algebra book on the site.

“If I can’t get the price I want it to sell for on Craigslist, I go to other sources on the Web,” Underwood said. “It’s kind of hit-or-miss. You can find some good deals on there.”

Though there are several options for textbook purchases, some students prefer to go to campus bookstores.

Katy Redman, Grand Island, Neb. junior, usually goes to the KU Bookstore each year because it’s convenient.

“I’m on campus anyway, and the people are really nice,” Redman said.

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson

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