Some students have stopped buying new books, instead opting to purchase their textbooks from websites like Amazon and eBay as a means to save money.
Other options include renting, borrowing used books or downloading e-reader files.
Senior education major Agnes Im is one of many students who buys books online.
“As long as it’s not a custom textbook designed for a specific class, I buy textbooks online,” Im said. “Sometimes when I have to buy many shorter books, I try to just borrow books from the library or friends.”
Senior political science major Howard Oh also prefers to buy his books online.
“I buy it from online and I prefer used,” Oh said. “The used books from online are really cheap.”
Senior Steve Alvarez also purchased his textbooks online, but, after seeing how some professors don’t use the required books, he said he will consider renting next time.
“This semester, I bought some international edition on eBay, I’m planning to sell them to other students and get some of my money back,” Alvarez said. “I feel like some classes don’t even require a text, the professors just use them as aids in their classes, so from now on, I’m not going to consider buying them.”
According to book division manager of 49er Shops Brain Fetterman, the number of rentals has doubled from last year, from 7,314 to approximately 13,000.
Some students also download e-reader files from websites to put on their e-book readers like the iPad and Kindle.
Also, many professors at CSULB have several textbooks available in the library for the students to borrow for a limited time.
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