| Should BYU-I support the Bookstore monopoly? |
by Dominique Perkins
PER04022@BYUI.EDU
Opinion Asst. Editor |
YES
As college students, free and away from home, when we find something that works (especially if it saves us a couple of bucks), we stick with it.
It’s only natural to become loyal to a process that serves us best.
The BYU-Idaho Bookstore is an example of a system that works and that students have become loyal to.
The BYU-I Bookstore is the only local source for textbooks, and looking at the success and approval it had with students, one would say it was doing a good job.
The BYU-I Bookstore is dependable and student oriented. It not only sells the required books but it sets up programs, like book reservation, to make the textbook buying process easier.
Students across the country feel ripped-off at the end of each semester when they return their books and do not receive as much money back as they would have liked.
But the 60 percent buy-back rate we receive here is higher than other universities, such as Idaho State University in Pocatello, which only gives students a 50 percent refund.
Our bookstore could actually get a better deal on textbooks if it bought new ones each year straight from the national wholesaler, but instead it chooses to buy back from students.
Also the bookstore can only buy back as many books as it will need for the next semester. So, recently it set up a program that made sure that students who do buy from them have the first chance to sell back books, and those who buy from other sources will have to wait and risk not having their books bought back at all.
Some students have found online alternatives for buying textbooks, but then they expect to sell them back to the bookstore at the end of the year. That’s fine, but why should they automatically be allowed to sell back their books to a place they didn’t buy them from? Would you expect to return Target products back to Walmart? If you want to buy books online, maybe you should try selling them back online too. Some students cannot see how hard this bookstore works for them because their choices for other textbook sources have become limited.
But when BYU-Idaho can see that the bookstore works so hard to serve our best interest, it only seems reasonable that BYU-I would protect the bookstore by not releasing the textbook shopping list to other entities.
If the bookstore went crazy and started to rip-off students, these policies would probably be changed to allow students to have more choices. But BYU-I trusts the bookstore and supports the job it is doing.
The bookstore has tried to show itsloyalty to students who show theirs.
NO
Having choices is a freedom we enjoy in our capitalist society. Locally, we have the choice to live in housing that is divine or dingy, eat food that is decadent or disgusting, pay either an arm or a leg for gasoline, take classes that are complex or effortless, and the list goes on.
But there’s a choice many students wish they had that the BYU-Idaho President’s Council has seen fit to restrict — the choice of where to buy textbooks.
“If we made it too easy for others to compete against the [BYU-Idaho] Bookstore, it would put the bookstore out of business,” said Jim Gee, vice president of Student Life at BYU-I.
So if you’ve roamed around Rexburg searching for cheaper textbooks than those offered on campus, you’re a few months too late. The only off-campus bookstore closed up shop at the end of last winter semester.
Since BYU-I is a private institution, it reserves the right to restrict who receives information regarding texts for classes. At public colleges that information is considered in the public domain.
Of course the bookstore would suffer with competition, but going out of business is not likely.
Cliff Ewert, spokesperson for Follett Higher Education Group, which serves more than 700 U.S. academic institutions, said that most universities they serve have competition from off-campus entities, and large universities such as UC-Berkley and Florida State have two or three bookstores to compete against. But they’ve never had a unit go out of business.
Gee said the council believes students are better served by the BYU-I Bookstore because they follow good business practices, offer a high buyback percentage and benefit more people.
The bookstore may do good business and offer enticing incentives, but students want choices. Currently our only available options are to buy on campus, on the university’s online bulletin board or from online distributors.
Web sites like www.half.com and www.amazon.com offer textbooks at amazing rates, some saving students more than 80 percent over bookstore prices. But it’s not always convenient or practical.
Online textbook orders need to be purchased in advance in order to arrive in time for the semester’s start, but students usually do not know what books are required until classes begin.
Is it the university’s prerogative to decide how we will best benefit?
In some ways — yes. That’s what the honor code is for. But when it comes to our purchases — no. We already have enough expenses. If students can save money through competition provided by an off-campus bookstore, they should have the choice to shop there.
Andy Cargal
CAR02031@BYUI.EDU
editor in chief
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