Students say books too costly
By ELIZABETH LEFFALL
Despite the passing of textbook legislation designed to lower costs by
30 percent, some students at Fresno State say they aren’t seeing
the difference no matter where they go.
“I haven’t bought my accounting book yet because it’s
almost $120,” said Jorge Lopez, a senior liberal studies major.
Long lines are common at the Kennel Bookstore at the beginning
of every semester. Regardless of how expensive students say books
are, most still buy their books from the bookstore. Photo
by Joseph Hollak. |
State Assembly Bill 2477 went into effect Jan. 1.
The bill was created to encourage the ‘unbundling’ of instructional
materials to give students the options of buying only the materials they
need and to cut overall textbook costs in half.
Marisol Arciniega, a senior majoring in international business, said that,
bundled or not, she’s seen little savings.
“I bought [my books] Wednesday. I paid $140 for a book for my international
marketing class. Everything is more expensive than last semester,”
Arciniega said.
Citing a 2003 survey by the California Public Interest Research Group,
the creators of the bill found that the average student in California
spends almost $900 on textbooks in a school year.
Although biology sophomore Kendall DeJong purchased her books on campus
at the Kennel Bookstore, she said the Sequoia Bookstore on Shaw Avenue
is her first choice.
“Sequoia might have been cheaper, but it’s more convenient
to come to the [Kennel] bookstore. Even with that, my calculus book was
still $105,” DeJong said.
Andrea Thrower, a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, said the Kennel
Bookstore had everything she needed.
“Books everywhere are higher. I just come to this bookstore because
one, I know that they have the books because all the teachers order their
books from here and two, I know for sure that I can always return the
books that I buy here to other places and get money back,” Thrower
said.
In an earlier interview, Ron Durham, director of the Kennel Bookstore
said Fresno State still has ‘the lowest markup, of 23 percent, in
the CSU system.’
“This campus is very supportive of trying to keep textbook prices
down and our buyback prices are better than the competition,” Durham
said.
“University Bookstore and the others around don’t offer the
packets many of the teachers request us to buy. Since Kennel has those,
I figure I might as well come here and buy everything else,” Lopez
said.
Despite the bookstores best efforts, some students are still seeing empty
bookshelves.
Criminology senior Shawn Keebler said he paid $95 for his anthropology
book, one of the few books he could find.
“Most of the books I needed were sold out and they’re not
in the library. I haven’t checked around other places yet but I
will. I came to Kennel first because the books are supposed to be there,”
Keebler said.
Lynn Lorber, consultant to the Assembly Higher Education Committee said
in a telephone interview that even though the bill has taken effect, the
lowering of book prices and their availability will be up to bookstores,
teachers and publishers.
“The State Assembly has done its job, now it’s up to them
to make the rest happen,” she said.
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