There’s a
science to shopping for science textbooks, according to two plant biologists.
In a report
for the Journal of College Science Teaching, two researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens set out to
determine if the prices of college-level science textbooks fluctuate in a
predictable pattern that coincides with the start and end of academic terms and
whether students could save more money if they were able to buy books sooner.
The
researchers, doctoral candidate Jeffery Cannon and Professor Peggy Brickman,
cited data (including some from NACS) showing that students perform better on
exams when they study assigned course materials but that cost is often a
barrier to obtaining those materials. If the cost could be reduced, the pair
reasoned, then more students would acquire more textbooks and potentially
improve their learning.
Cannon and
Brickman tracked 45 science titles required for 39 chemistry and biology
courses at the University of Mississippi. Every one to two weeks for a full
year, they checked the lowest prices and quantities of used copies for sale on
Amazon.com. Occasionally, new copies were available for less than used, so those
prices were recorded instead.
They found
that prices peaked Sept. 9 for fall term and Jan. 13 for spring term. Prices
bottomed out, on average, on June 10 and Dec. 2.
If students
had purchased their texts at the low point, they could have saved 33% in the
fall and 20% in the spring. “However, the only way for students to realize
these savings is if students are aware of which textbooks are required for a
given course before the end of the semester preceding the course—that is,
during class registration,” concluded the report, titled “Helping Students
Save: Assigning Textbooks Early Can Save Money and Enhance Learning.”
The pair
then examined when biology and chemistry classes at UGA (as Mississippi’s
course catalog was no longer available to them) provided textbook requirements.
Only 42% listed requirements sufficiently early to enable students to take
advantage of the lowest prices.
