Digital age: College students turn to e-books, skip high prices, shipping delays
After college students are done moving into their dorms and turn their attention to classes, many start to wonder where and how to get their books.
Some students order their books weeks in advance and pick them up at their campus bookstore while others wait until classes start to see if they feel they even need the books.
While each student has their own reasoning and method of how they buy their books, new e-book options and digital course materials have opened the doors to new possibilities that don’t require students to lug their books around campus.
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E-books and digital materials are easier, cheaper options for students
Digital books and materials are not a new concept for many colleges and universities but have become more popular, especially since the pandemic.
“A number of the e-book providers provided free access through the end of that semester (Spring 2020) to all their entire catalog,” Kevin Leitner, director of retail operations at the College of Wooster, said. “… and I think that was the introduction for many students for e-books and they got to try it out for that last couple weeks or months of the semester.”
Being able to access these materials digitally was not only helpful throughout COVID but is something that Leitner said has long term benefits since students can access the materials as soon as they buy them and are sometimes much cheaper than physical books.
Loic Rwagasana, a freshman business management major at the College of Wooster, said he used Amazon to get his three e-books and saved more than $100. Rwagasana said he enjoys the ability to access his books from devices like his phone without having to worry about carrying around books.
Some colleges, including Ashland University, even offer inclusive access materials where the digital course work is loaded onto the learning management system so students can access their coursework and books in the same place.
Amanda Brown, the director of Campus Stores at Ashland University, wrote in an email that 80% of the course materials they offer are through the program since “they are less expensive, easy to access, and can be accessed wherever they have an electronic device.”
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Printed book prices rise and harder to find but worth it to some
Some students still prefer to own or rent physical books.
Sophomore physics major Lily Baker said she prefers physical books as she finds them more reliable, but noticed they were more expensive than e-books.
Baker does try to save money where she can by renting or buying used books, but in the end, she feels the convenience of always having the materials she needs is worth the price.
Availability of books has also become a challenge in recent years as Brown said some publishers are no longer offering printed textbook options or those books are out of print altogether.
“We find that there are less books being produced which can potentially cause issues with back orders. We have not run into that at the store at this point,” Brown wrote. “Our biggest issue is when a course requires a textbook that is out of print. We have to use nontraditional sourcing methods in order to obtain those out of print texts.”
Free options contribute to lower prices overall
For students looking to save even more money, Leitner said there are Open Education Resources (OER) options, like OpenStax, where students can sometimes find free books and that is something the bookstore tries to support and share.
"Anytime that the professor is interested in one of those OER titles, we gladly support them because we want students to get access," Leitner said. "… We want to make sure that the stuff they need in order to succeed is available to them."
There are also other free options, Baker said, as she has had professors share links to online books or PDFs of the materials.
"Sometimes it's a smart idea to wait until you start classes to know what books you actually need or if the professor does have an easy PDF for you that's free, if you are trying to save money," Baker said.
No matter which option students opt to go with, studies show that overall students are paying less for materials than they ever have.
According to the Student Watch Report published by the National Association of College Stores, students paid roughly $38 per course for materials last year, which is down from the $53 per course paid during the 2020-’21 school year.
Contact Rachel Karas at rkaras@gannett.com. Twitter: @RachelKaras3
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Digital books cheaper, easier to get on college campuses
