The Barnes & Noble UT Main Campus Bookstore is the main source for many students to buy books for school, but complaints have come from both professors and students concerning the profit the store receives from sales.
"I feel they take advantage of students that don't know any better or are too lazy," said Ben Winner, a junior majoring in finance. "You can find cheaper books online or at the Bancroft bookstore. [Some students] might think they'll get the wrong book if they go anywhere else."
The bookstore offers standard college pricing, said Colleen Strayer, general manager of the Barnes & Noble bookstore.
"Pricing is in the contract with the university," she said. "The approving of the contract means the approving of [the bookstore] being a vendor."
Other students, like Mark McCready, a senior majoring in music education, aren't troubled by the bookstore's prices.
"I shop around before I buy my books, and I find most of the books to be the same price as the bookstore, used and new," he said.
Myisha Herrell, a sophomore majoring in social work, said she tries to find books online, but she has to start looking for them much earlier. The prices and buyback policy at the Barnes & Noble bookstore make students not want to shop there, Herrell said.
"It's like they charge you a billion dollars to get the books, and then they only give you $2 when you return them," she said. "It's just like ridiculous. They make you not even want to buy books from the bookstore."
The Barnes & Noble bookstore has driven Herrell away from its services, and she said she prefers the Student Bookstore, located off Bancroft Street.
"I think the [bookstore on Bancroft Street] is much cheaper than the one on campus," she said. "I don't know why - that's just strange to me. If you're selling the same books and merchandise and stuff, then why is one cheaper than the other?"
Herrell said she and her roommate, in reaction to high book prices, took the same classes last semester so they could split the cost of buying and sharing only one copy of the book.
Despite some student concerns about the buyback prices, others said they have had better luck with buying cheaper used books.
"I've been able to get some decently-priced used books," said Doug Davison, a freshman majoring in psychology.
Davison said the high cost of books is the same at every school, and because students often don't have a choice, bookstores have the ability to set the price and students just have to accept it.
"Textbooks are expensive; they're always overpriced," he said. "It sucks."
Davison said he is going to sell his books to friends and other students instead of using the UT bookstore's buyback policy.
Although some consider the situation to be uncontrollable, others place the blame on the bookstore, saying it's conducting business unfairly.
In one situation, "[the bookstore] was charging the student for something that was free," said Linda Schuller, an English lecturer at UT.
Schuller said the bookstore's contract allows it to tack on extra costs for purchases it never made. After ordering a composition textbook with an incentive from the publisher to include a shrink-wrapped dictionary and thesaurus, the bookstore increased the price even though the publisher guaranteed there would be no increase, she said.
"I called and asked the manager why they charged for what they hadn't paid for," she said. "They said that when there is additional material, even though they didn't pay for it, they are allowed by contract to add a different margin."
Strayer said the issue surrounding the extra pricing of books was a misunderstanding.
"It's irrelevant whether [the publishers] say it's free or not," she said. "When [professors] order extra materials, it makes the margin slightly higher. It does not raise the price per se; it's just a cost of doing business."
Sunday Ubokudom, an associate professor of political science and public administration, agreed the bookstore's markup is just a part of doing business, and because he doesn't know its specific markup percentage, it's unclear whether the amount is reasonable.
"They're in business," he said. "They're in it to make a profit; that's the American way."
Ubokudom said high book prices and the lack of lower priced used books are often a result of professors, including him, turning in book requests too late.
"We don't tend to submit the request on time," he said. "That's why by the time the bookstore gets the request and places the order, the used books are all gone."
In addition to professors submitting book requests on time, Strayer offered a few ways to keep the price down on books for the professors ordering them.
"When [the professor] orders books, they should order them alone, without extra material, to ensure the students get the best price for the book," she said. "This makes it easier for the students when they sell the book back, if they don't use the extra material."
If the professor wishes to have extra material, they should work it out separately with the publisher, Strayer said.
According to Strayer, another way to keep the price down for professors is to keep the same book from semester to semester.
"Fight new editions," she said.
Schuller said the publishers decide when to issue new editions, and when they do, the old editions are pulled from being sold. But they still can be helpful or even necessary.
"In new edition English textbooks, sometimes readings are changed to be more modern, which is more interesting to the student," she said.
Schuller also mentioned political science textbooks, given their nature, would probably need to be updated fairly frequently.
The bookstore gives back to the university, donating time and merchandise, Strayer said.
"A percentage goes right back to the university students," she said "Scholarships are available to students, and they are paid in cash up to half of the full price back [when they return books]. For 18 years, managers have spent time and money for events that help out every organization on campus."
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