As the fall semester begins at Northern Essex Community College, students are dealing with the rising costs of textbooks.
Textbooks are one of the expenses students face when starting a new semester. Students at NECC have found different ways to find/buy/rent their required course materials. The students I interviewed found that buying off Amazon and renting helped them save money. One person also said she had to pick up extra shifts at work to pay for her textbooks.
Cali Moore, a second-year Art and Design student at NECC spent about $125 on textbooks this semester. Moore got her textbook used off Amazon.
“I just googled the textbook that I needed and was looking for the most affordable one that wouldcome in quick enough because I needed it for the following week,” she said. Moore said she was surprised about the price for textbooks since it’s “something that is required for me to do my school work.”
Moore said one way students can save money is by buying used textbooks and finding ways to return or resell them so they can be used again. For future NECC students, she recommends looking for cheaper options. “Textbooks are expensive, and try to find used and cheaper options,” Moore said.
Ava Thornton, a second-year exercise science student at NECC, spent about $170 on four textbooks this semester. Thornton purchased a combination of new, used and digital textbooks for her classes.
“I was pissed,” Thornton said about the cost of her books.
The cost of the textbooks also affected how Thornton managed her money. She said she had to pick up extra shifts at work to help pay for the books. “I ask other people in class for copies of their textbook or they send pictures of the reading or questions,” Thornton said.
Ashlyn Sullivan, a second-year liberal arts and general studies student at NECC, did not spend any money on textbooks this semester, but in previoussemesters she has spent $200 to $300 on textbooks.
“This semester, I got OER digital PDFs that I downloaded to my device,” Sullivan said. Sullivan said she was not surprised about the cost but it was “still a little painful” to see the actual price.
“My ways to save money are to see if there are free PDFs online or if I can get a usedversion on the library website,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said students should know that “textbooks are needlessly expensive” and that they do not need the newest or most expensive books. She also suggested renting textbooks so students do not have to keep them after the semester ends.
NECC student Mae Heisler also found ways to keep her textbook costs low. She needed three books this semester but only spent $15, buying onebook from Amazon and finding free online copies of the other two. She said she was surprised and happy that she would not have to spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks.