By Priscilla Preciado
Finding the most affordable books for classes can get stressful and it would be helpful if a better system was in place close to home. By that I mean on the ELAC campus library or the campus bookstore.
At the library, textbooks cannot be checked out for more than a few hours within the building. In my recent experience, this was difficult because I was waiting on a book to come in that was ordered online, but there was some reading that needed to be done within the first three weeks of class.
Instead of waiting for it to come in, I went ahead and read all the chapters needed in the school library.
This was difficult because there was only a book available and it had been checked out already. There was no way of knowing when it would be returned.
There should be a few copies, two at least per subject or class and it should be able to be checked out overnight at most, only because this can help many students that are shopping around for the most affordable books to save the most money with our small budgets.
As a college student saving money is always key, if no help or even with help it can get overwhelming with expenses from all small to big expenses such as tuition and then parking.
Looking at the big picture for transfer students into a University we all know that it will be more expensive once we transfer. Furthermore other cost would need to be thought of if an out of state transfer is considered since housing would be needed.
On another hand if the ELAC campus bookstore can have a system in place where very inexpensive books are sold through a rotation of used books from students that sell them after the classes are over.
For example if I can sell my current books after this semester for let’s say $5-$10 depending on the textbook and then in return the bookstore can sell them at maybe $15-$20 at most with not much profit or nonprofit.
A simple rotation between the students with used books can help save a lot of money for students that are barely able to get by being in college and or working.
This system would only benefit all students and if ELAC needed to profit off of this then they can up the selling price by a few dollars that in the end would add up. Again this is something that I have thought about that can be done at all college campuses.
The most important point to this is to keep the selling and buying price low and to just make it an easy check in and checkout system for students so every semester when we get our syllabus and know what books to get we can just go over to the bookstore and see what’s available. Of course there would be a limited selection and once bought there would be no more left.
However I think that with this system in time there could be several books available added up with students getting more involved in this and more books in rotation. Anything that can help college students feel more at ease with getting an education and push students to succeed to get through college smoothly is always great.
