[ZTABullwinkle]

I was lucky this semester, and only had to pay $350 for my books. I am a biology and psychology major, and those books are always expensive. We are lucky that we have another bookstore that sells book for a few dollars cheaper than the Barnes & Noble run school bookstore.

The state of VA required that schools publish their reading lists before the semester so students can purchase books somewhere else if chaper. Here is the recent article about it in our paper.

Online lists let students buy books, save bucks

By PHILIP WALZER, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 10, 2005

NORFOLK — Andre Wells got a head start on textbook-shopping this summer.

The Old Dominion University junior found the reading lists for his classes on the university’s Web site in mid-August. He shopped around and ended up buying all his books online for $230 .

That saved Wells $200.

The business student benefited from a law passed this year by the General Assembly requiring public colleges to post their course reading lists online.

Whether many other students have taken advantage of the new feature is hard to gauge. Eight of 12 interviewed this week at ODU and Norfolk State University weren’t aware that the reading lists are online.

“I don’t think a lot of people know about it,” said Wells, who is from Newport News. “If they used it, it would save students a lot of money.”

But Virginia21 , an advocacy group for college students, has gotten 11,000 hits on a page linking to the reading lists.

“That says that the word is spreading,” said Dave Solimini , a spokesman for Virginia21. “It would not surprise me that it takes a semester or two that the word gets around to a majority of students.”

The law , sponsored by Del. G. Glenn Oder , R-Newport News, does not provide a deadline for the colleges to post the lists. But a survey by Virginia21 found that all colleges had them up by early August, Solimini said.

“Having recently been through this ourselves, we know how expensive books can be,” said Solimini, a 2004 graduate of T he College of William and Mary. “Having that extra edge to find an affordable price is important.”

Colleges worried that it would siphon sales from bookstores, as students bought more texts online. But at ODU’s bookstore, sales of books and other merchandise rose 8 percent this summer, said Don Runyon, the assistant vice president for auxiliary services.

“Our students are shopping around,” he said. “We’ve got students buying books earlier. I think it’s helped us and helped them at the same time.”

The University of Virginia also hasn’t experienced declining sales, said Jon Kates , the executive director of the bookstore. Calls to NSU’s bookstore were not returned.

Students offered differing takes on buying books on the Internet.

Marquese Wimbush , a senior from Alexandria studying management information systems at Norfolk State, found a statistics book for less than $14 online.

But Rachel Smith, an ODU freshman from Norfolk, checked the Internet, and “it came out to be not a significant enough difference to order them online.”

The state law, of course, hasn’t dented the price of books.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office last month estimated that college students spent an average of about $900 on books and supplies in 2003-2004 .

At Old Dominion and Norfolk State, some used books surpass $100 . Some new ones cost significantly more.

An accounting book goes for $156.50 , and a biochemistry book costs just one dollar less, at Norfolk State. A basic economics text sells for $148.25 at Old Dominion.

“I don’t think I paid less than $80 a book,” said

Danielle Brown of Chesapeake, a student in Norfolk State’s master’s program in social work.

“I think it’s a pretty crazy amount of money,” Smith said. “You pay 70 dollars for your parking pass and about 400 for books, and you buy all your other stuff, and you’re poor.”

A companion bill approved by the legislature requires the state to survey students and issue a report in January on textbook pricing in Virginia and elsewhere. Students may fill out the survey at www.schev.edu until Sept. 18 .

Solimini calls the law “a great success.” More than 6,000 students signed petitions urging legislators to pass it, he said.

“This is one of those examples when people can see that getting involved in the legislative process can have an impact in their life,” he said.