Books cost less, but remain expensive

$400 for textbook sounds like a lot of money, but bookstore officials say students are paying less than in previous years.

Andrew Blaylock, the director of campus services who has worked for LLCC bookstore for 7.5 years, said book prices have been falling.

“It isn’t a tremendous decrease,” Blaylock said. “But it is a notable difference between this year and several years ago.”

Blaylock explained further: “The average student spends $36 per credit hour on books. If that student is enrolled in 12 hours, that would equal about $432 in books.”

The national average for books is $1,100, Blaylock said, but it is $860 a year at LLCC.

Book prices have decreased nationally.

Even though prices have decreased, some instructors are also finding ways to bypass book sales, making them optional. Some put readings or other materials as PDFs on Blackboard for students. Those faculty will tell students the physical textbook is an optional purchase in the bookstore. Others opt for e-books from booksellers with an optional physical textbook to supplement then online version.

“I always hear students talking to their friends about how they are going to afford their books,” said Shawn Floyd who has worked at the LLCC bookstore for 11 years.

Floyd said student can benefit from having an online-only book, with an option to purchase a physical copy if desired.

Sean Edmondson, who has worked as a sales associate at the LLCC bookstore for seven years, believes online textbooks make sense for math and technological texts, but not everything

“English is more of a hands-on type of learning,” Edmondson said. So, it makes sense to have a physical book for those courses, “while math and the technology sciences are more of an online-learning experience.”

Blaylock added: “Some students have no access to the Internet away from school, and most students are hands-on learners.”