College textbooks are packed with information, but do they hold their value past one semester?
“Cost” is a word closely tied to college. Every step you take in college comes with a new price tag. Campus parking, meal plans and housing are just some of the basics, but one expense that you can’t get around is that of the textbook.
According to College Board, the average cost of books and supplies for one year at a public university is $1,250. These days, many students cut the cost by renting their books or buying used books and selling them back to their local bookstore, but should they be? Many of our textbooks were written by experts in their field of study and should hold their value past the five months of a class. Wouldn’t these books be constantly referenced during an undergraduate’s future career?
“Not at all,” said Samantha Salva, a Kennesaw State graduate. “I should have sold them back a while ago. They are just collecting dust at this point.”
Salva, who is currently a property manager with the Bell Woodstock apartment complex, claims to have never referenced her past textbooks for her profession.
“The Internet is a powerful tool these days,” Salva said. “Anytime I come across something that stumps me, I just go online. College budgets are tight, so I would definitely sell them back or give them to a friend to help them out.”
Salva is not alone in her opinion of textbooks.
“I took advantage of selling them for cash when I had the chance,” said Michael Schweinbeck, a KSU sports management graduate. “There were countless books that I bought and ended up never opening. After that first year, I started using Amazon rentals because they were so much cheaper.”
Like old cell phones, college textbooks tend to turn into hundred-dollar paperweights. New editions are constantly being written, making previous editions obsolete.
“The publishers constantly churn out new textbooks,” said Scott Greer, an assistant textbook manager at the KSU General Bookstore. “A few years ago, they certainly retained their value, but with education transitioning to online, they don’t have the same value.”
Greer has worked in the textbook industry for 12 years and has become aware of some trends that textbook publishers use.
“Because it’s a declining industry, they seem to make subtle changes and then add a necessary online bundle code,” Greer said. “You can’t buy those used, so they pretty much dictate the market.”
Greer highly recommends buying used when you can, but then selling back immediately after your final in the class.
“The publishers actually determine the prices of used books. If they have a warehouse full of them, it’ll just drive down the cost. The price of some books may range from 50 cents to $200, but the longer you wait, the less value the books will have.”
With the value of textbooks facing such a steep drop off after a semester, it may make the most sense to rent or sell back.
