College students find ways to save money on textbooks

College student Rob Christensen has tried nearly every trick in the book to save money on the books.

Last year, Christensen said, he took out a text from his university library and kept it all semester. It dawned on him that the fines (which turned out to be $8) would be less than the price (about $40).

Christensen also has borrowed volumes from friends, split book costs with classmates and occasionally skipped buying expensive texts, hoping to get by without doing all the reading. He often shops for discounts online, too, sometimes snaring older editions or versions that aren't packaged with software or study guides that raise the cost.

Christensen attends school in an era when "Sociology: Your Compass for a New World" lists for $108.95, "Principles of Economics" sells for $141.98 and "Marketing Management" fetches $142.49.

"It's a tough fight to get textbooks for an affordable price," said Christensen, a Humboldt State University senior who hopes to become a high-school history teacher.

The era of heading to the college bookstore and compliantly buying everything a professor deems required reading — to the extent that those days really existed — is receding into the pages of history. The escalating cost of higher education and the ease of online shopping have spurred students to seek money-saving alternatives.

Three years ago, 43 percent of the students surveyed by the National Association of College Stores indicated they "always purchase required textbooks." Last fall, the figure sank to 35 percent.

Even though not buying a book might hurt their grades, "some just roll the dice and hope," said Albert Greco, a Fordham University business professor who studies the college-textbook business.

University of California, Los Angeles, economics professor Lee Ohanian recalls that when he started teaching in 1992, "there was never any question" about purchasing texts. "Now, I receive literally dozens of questions about whether the book is 'really needed.' "

Still, a College Board report released last month estimated that students at public four-year colleges are spending $942 on books and supplies this school year. Another analysis found that hardcover college textbooks are selling new for an average of $120.

Some students fire up the photocopy machine. Last fall's National Association of College Stores survey found that 14 percent of students polled admitted that they sometimes photocopy a book or other copyrighted materials.

Another technique: Order from overseas Web sites to buy cheaper foreign versions of books.

The trends frustrate college-bookstore operators vying for the estimated $7 billion a year that students spend on new and used texts. Jennifer Libertowski, a spokeswoman for the college-store association, noted that students increasingly balk at buying textbooks even as they gobble up iPods and cellphones. "There's definitely a value shift," she said.

Textbook prices have troubled lawmakers, as well as student activists. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported last year that college-textbook prices have climbed at twice the rate of inflation during the past two decades. Members of the House Education and Workforce Committee in June called for a one-year study that, among other things, will recommend ways to ease the burden of paying for texts.

A few states have passed related legislation.

Amid that pressure, textbook publishers offer such reduced-price options as black-and-white texts and electronic books that can be read online.

The Association of American Publishers, which represents the U.S. college-textbook industry, says prices have held steady in recent years and disputes the notion that book costs are too high. It points to research showing typical students at four-year colleges paid $644 for textbooks last year, far less than the College Board estimates and about one-third of what students spent on entertainment.

"The real outrage should be directed at the suggestion that textbooks are a legitimate place to scrimp," wrote Patricia Schroeder, a former Colorado congresswoman who is the association's president, in a recent newspaper commentary.