Course books can be expensive. We understand that spending $150 or more on a course book can be a difficult pill to swallow, especially when you are already feeling stretched thin financially. There are several factors that determine the cost of a book, most of which are decided before the book even arrives in our warehouse.

Here are some additional details that should help shed some light on course book pricing in the college bookstore industry:

Whenever possible, the Duck Store stocks our shelves with used course books to help save students money. However, when new editions of course books are released and requested, we are only able to offer students new books of the most recent edition as used course books are not yet available. The frequency of new edition releases is determined by the publishers as well as the need for insertion of new, more current information into the older course books.

Course packets provide information (i.e. articles, research, reports, etc.) from multiple sources and gather this data into one convenient spiral bound packet. Faculty members create packets to eliminate the need for students to purchase the entire collection of materials from which the information was originally gathered, however, all information in course packets must meet Copyright Clearance. Copyrighting all of the photocopied material in course packets can greatly effect the overall cost of a packet which can result in a rather pricey collection. Packets are provided to students at very close to cost.

Some of the book orders the Duck Store receives each term request bundled sets of materials instead of selling the books separately. While bundled materials can be a convenient way to ensure students receive all necessary and required course materials, this method of packaging hinders the Duck Store from being able to offer students used materials. For bundled sets of materials, we can only offer new course books.

Interested in the most current course book dollar figures released each year by the National Association of College Stores?

NOTE: To view the National Associate of College Store course book dollar PDF, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can download a free copy from the Adobe website.