Auraria book buybacks uncovered

Earning a degree often includes a hefty financial strain. The numbers that aren't figured into the ever-climbing tuition prices include a cost that may vary per semester: textbook fees. Nearly every college course is supplemented with a mandatory textbook. The Auraria Campus Bookstore alleviates some of these burdens by offering students cash for books through its book buyback program.

Some students have voiced their concerns that book buybacks aren't financially fair. UC Denver senior Alex Khanin has spent several semesters selling books back to the bookstore, receiving buyback cash that amounted to significantly less than the original cost of the textbook.

"I usually sell my books back to the bookstore since it is less time consuming than selling my books online," Khanin said. "I just wish I could leave a buyback and not feel like I just got a fraction of the money I paid at the beginning of the semester."

Similarly, some professors on Auraria Campus said they aren't content with the financial toll that textbook prices inflict upon students' pocketbooks. UCD  English professor Eliot Wilson spoke about his dissatisfaction with ever-increasing textbook prices. Some of his course material distribution methods allow students to avoid book buybacks altogether.

"Information, like poems, is available on the internet. For some of my courses, it's convenient for the students to have all the information in one place, but it's not convenient to pay $80 for a book when the internet contains all the content that the course will be based upon," Wilson said.

Campus bookstore manager Michael Clarke and book division manager Renee Wilson further explained the book buyback process: Faculty members at the bookstore contact Auraria Campus professors several months in advance for a list of textbooks that will be needed in courses for the upcoming semester. The bookstore generates the number of textbooks per course that will be re-purchased during a buyback. The more book orders generated through faculty cooperation equates to a greater number of books the bookstore will re-purchase.

Each semester during finals week, the first students to sell back books will receive half of the original book cost. For instance, a student who paid $100 for a book and $75 for a used book of the same title will receive $50 if the bookstore still needs to reach quota, according to the demand determined by the faculty-generated list. After the quota has been reached, textbooks are re-purchased on a case-by-case basis, with the cash amount determined by the textbook wholesale company.

Clarke said that the buyback program is, in fact, beneficial for students. "New-to-used textbook ratio has improved with time," he said, "Four years ago, 81 percent of books in stock were new and 19 percent were used. Now, they are closer to 67 percent new and 33 percent used. Promoting the buyback has made this so."    

Textbook wholesalers and publishers ultimately determine the staggering textbook prices, not the Auraria Campus Bookstore.

Wilson said, "I would encourage students to look at all of the options. We now have a lot of E-books available and we've added the online textbook rental program so students have other alternatives to the traditional textbooks available."