By Jessica Miller, Staff Writer
Quality is a simple word, but it means a lot. Especially when it comes to how a student decides to buy their textbooks. It seems like an easy decision, but the cheapest price does not always guarantee that a place is going to have good service, be timely, or have decent quality textbooks in time for class.
There are numerous ways to get the textbooks. The main place is through the campus bookstore. The bookstore offers nearly every textbook needed for University classes, which are organized by field, class, section, and professor for easy viewing. Employees are eager to help students find their textbooks and teach customers about materials. Another benefit of buying from the bookstore is that customers can double check which textbooks they need since professors send their required texts in advance. There is also a sense of trust students receive from buying or renting textbooks, knowing they do not have to worry about missing pages or accidental spills. Plus any book bought from the bookstore is usable right away.
The quality offered by the bookstore is hard to match up, but there are other ways to buy or rent textbooks. As soon as students sign up for classes next semester, they will often look into what books they need to purchase in advance so they can order in advance from their favorite places, particularly online websites. Some students become loyal to a certain website after a while.
“I buy mine from Amazon mainly because . . . It’s a trusted site,” said Junior Darius Anderson. . Amazon has held an infamous reputation as a popular place people go to for their literary needs. The website has a wide selection of books that people feel will be delivered to them on time and in the promised condition. However, there are many other competitive sites students find themselves ‘shopping’ around. One such site is Chegg which offers so many features on their website that it is difficult to imagine a student not finding at least one thing they like about it. The website makes it easy to find textbooks, course help, homework help, and quotes on selling textbooks. It is worth checking out.
Lastly, students use peer networking to get recommendations and values on textbooks. On campus, most students are friendly eager to help their peers by selling old textbooks. These direct buys are often the most profitable because students can hear straight from another campus student how the class utilizes the textbooks. Plus, there are usually highlights and markings already in the textbook helpful helpful in studying.
“I buy them [textbooks]from either friends, or I check the Facebook page and see if someone . . . post what book(s) that I need for my classes . . .” said Freshman Alexandria Blaha. Looking for quality over price when it comes to buying textbooks can turn out to be more profitable if students look in the right places.
