Shopping for College Textbooks? Skipping the Campus Store is Outdated Advice

OBERLIN, OH, July 27, 2018 – Today’s college stores provide students with a variety of options to save money on textbooks and course materials. Savvy students know that campus stores offer competitive prices on course materials and many options, such as rentals, used or electronic textbooks, custom course materials, and more.

According to the soon-to-be-released Student Watch: Attitudes & Behaviors toward Course Materials 2017-2018 Report, last fall 78% of students that purchased one or more course materials did so at the campus bookstore. This percentage is nearly twice as high as any other retailer.

Here’s why:

• Nearly all campus stores offer used and rental textbooks as well as digital course content at prices that are comparable to online vendors. These options are often one-third to half the price of buying a new textbook.
  
• Moreover, some stores offer price matching, price guarantees, rebates, discounts for early reservations, free in-store pickup for online orders, and buy-now, pay-later options. Options students won’t get with online vendors.

• Campus stores work with faculty to develop custom content—such as special editions with only the assigned chapters—so that students pay for only the information they need to succeed academically.

• More than 350 campus stores across the U.S. and Canada offer price-comparison apps or online software to help students make wise buying choices. These tools compare the store’s prices on course materials (new, used and rentals) to those of a variety of online sellers.

• Most stores have flexible return policies that mirror campus deadlines. Students avoid any hidden shipping and handling fees and the inconvenience of having to ship materials back to multiple online sellers (and remember where they got each item).

• Immediate access to course materials for last-minute shoppers. Some online sources can take up to three weeks to deliver.

About The National Association of College Stores

The National Association of College Stores (NACS), headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, is the professional trade association of the $10 billion campus store industry. NACS provides education and other resources that help its member stores support student success, the campus experience, and the academic missions of higher education institutions. The association represents all campus stores, which include nearly 4,000 campuses in the U.S. and Canada, and approximately 1,000 industry-related companies that supply course materials and other merchandise and services to campus stores.