After paying hefty tuitions, the second concern for almost every student is books. But the findings of a new report suggest things may get slightly better for millions of college students.
From January 2017 to January 2018, prices of textbooks have decreased by more than $10 on average. The report released by CampusBooks.com, a textbook price comparison website that tracks eight million college textbooks, described it as a sign of depreciation.
The data released by website also reveals that college students aren’t ready to part ways with paper despite living digital lifestyles.
“Students are still buying hard books and are exploring other options in order to save a few bucks including rentals. Used book sales represent an average of 45 percent of all sales from 2016 through 2018 with new books only accounting for 30 percent,” reads the report.
Since 2016, the report says, the sale of eBooks have increased by more than 37 percent and constitute just 2 percent of overall all sale while the trend of renting textbook is on rise.
“Students may be completely digital these days – growing up on tablets and smartphones – but when it comes to the college classroom, hard back books still represent the best value and learning tool. One surprising data point is that students aren’t looking at ways to put cash back in their pocket with textbook buy-back programs. Rentals might be the cheapest but they don’t help pay off student loans,” Alex Neal, CEO of CampusBooks said.
Earlier reports have found that the average cost of college textbooks has seen a sharp upward trend in last 10 years which is faster than the rate of inflation.