In the coming weeks, students will probably find yourself pouring over your books more than ever in preparation for final exams. Thoughts of 15-page papers and the winter break will probably be at the forefront of everyone's minds, and next semester may seem like years away. But a little fore thought might save students some money when it comes to selling your books back to the bookstore and buying books for next semester.
One option that some students take advantage of is ordering books over the Internet rather than waiting in long lines at the bookstore. However, the extended waiting time and end-purchasing price of the books may not be as attractive to students.
"Sometimes with shipping and handling, it ends up to be more expensive when I order over the internet," sophomore Gati Dharani said.
For students who have been burned by on-line book sellers and are fed up with the bookstore, help may be on thew way. The new management, headed by Ron Gill, is creating a new system that is, according to Gill, "rejuvenated so [it] benefits the students more."
The new management is trying to increase student awareness of bookstore programs that are there to aid students in response to the popular opinion that the bookstore is overpriced.
"The bookstore is rather expensive," sophomore Meena Sharma said. "It discourages me from going there, but I don't know where else to buy the books I need. It's really the most convenient location, but its hard to spend that much on the first day."
To remedy student discontent, the bookstore will be improving its buyback program. According to Gill, during this year's buyback period from Dec. 13-20, t the bookstore hopes to give "back more money to the students than we were giving."
"We are really looking to buy books back from students," Gill said. If the professor has reordered the book for next semester that a student is reselling, the bookstore will pay you 50 percent of the original cost. For example, if an algebra book cost $120 with a CD included, the bookstore will pay 60 if one still has the CD and the book is in good condition.
More students selling their books back means lower prices for students buying those books in the future. "With the support of other students returning their used books, it will cut down on the cost of books that other students purchase and increase the availability of used books the bookstore has to sell," Gill said.
According to Gill, the bookstore always goes to the used book market first when purchasing books. However, if the book comes in a package with a CD and the used books do not have it, if the professor orders a new edition, or if the bookstore get book request forms later than other schools, there is less chance of buying the books used.
If the bookstore can get the majority of its stock from students' used books, it will cut down on the price students are paying for their books in general. First of all, used books will be more prevalent in the bookshelves. And the used books will be cheaper because the bookstore does not have to pay the shipping and handling fees to get the books to the store.
One catch in the program is that the professors must have reordered the book for next semester for the bookstore to be able to pay the student 50 percent of the original price. The student will not receive as much money for his returned books if the professor has not yet turned in his notice that he will be using the same book for the coming semester as he would if the professor had submitted the form.
If buyback becomes more successful at Tufts, Gill says then the bookstore will start to publicize their online textbook reservation system more, which will make buying books even easier for student. The bookstore had reservations about publicizing this policy before because they did not have the books to support the program as a result of the cycle of sending for books later rather than sooner.
According to Gill, with the online preordering, a student can go on to the Tufts website and order the books he or she needs for classes. The student can opt for new or used books, based on book availability. The books must be prepaid by credit card on the internet. Orders are processed in the order they come in and then packaged in a box for the student to pick them up, thus eliminating waiting in those pesky lines.
"More than anyone else, it benefits the students," Gill said. "We are trying to do everything we can to give them back money, especially at this time of the year going home for the holidays when they need it."
