Artwork by
Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

Don't Forget About Those Textbooks
Chelsea Moffitt, CAFNR Corner Post Staff

December 1, 2003~With Thanksgiving Break over and only two weeks of classes remaining in the 2003 fall semester students have began to prepare for the 2004 winter semester. Students can often become too immersed in finals or over anxious for winter break and forget that they can sell this semester's textbooks back to the bookstore and purchase textbooks for next semester's classes.

When deciding whether or not to keep a textbook or sell it back to the University Bookstore, students must decide how helpful this textbook will be in future years. If the textbook is one that was part of a class required for their major and could be a helpful reference in the work force, the student may want keep it. If the textbook will be a helpful reference in other classes, such as an English handbook, the student may want to keep it as well.

"I am keeping all of my Spanish textbooks because I think they will be helpful resources for my future classes," Rachel Riley, freshman journalism major said.

If a student does not want to keep a textbook, they have the option of selling it back to the bookstore but there are a number of requirements that the textbook must meet before being acceptable to resell.

The textbook must be in good condition. Binding, covers and every page has to be in place. There cannot be excessive highlighting or underlining. These markings may decrease the book's buyback value.

Other things influencing the value of a textbook include whether or not a professor has requested the textbook for the next semester. Books that have been requested for next semester are worth 50 percent of the original purchase price.

If the textbook has not been requested for next semester or once the limit has been reached on those books requested, students will be paid the highest national market price.

"I inherited the Agriculture Communications book [used in Agriculture Journalism 160] and nothing has come out since to replace it. I also know the authors and really like the information covered in the text. The other book used in class is Telling the Story. It is a slimed down version of what is used in the J-school that will be useful to students in future journalism classes," Marilyn Cummins, agriculture journalism professor said.

Another factor influencing buy back value of textbooks is the edition of the book. Publishers often issue next textbooks. Old editions then have little or even no market value.

Textbooks are being bought back by the University Bookstore December 8-13, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., December 15-19, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m., and December 20, 8 a.m.-noon.

Students also need to purchase next semester's textbooks. This can be done online or at the University Bookstore. To help save money students will have the option to buy used textbooks for some classes. This can often save around $100.

"I am going to purchase used textbooks because they are just as good as new ones, only cheaper," Riley said.

For more information on textbooks and purchasing textbooks online visit http://www.mubookstore.com

Back to archive

Disclaimer: The commentaries on this page are the opinions of one person and may not reflect the views of everybody at CAFNR Corner Post.