SGA requisition bill put to the test

Author: Thomas C. Drescher

A recent Student Government Association (SGA) press release announced the initial success of last semester's textbook requisition forms legislation, affirming a marked increase in both the number of timely form submissions and subsequent student resale earnings. College Store employees corroborated the details of the SGA's announcement.

According to statistics compiled by College Store Assistant Manager Georgia Best, students pocketed $19,212 during the 2005 December "buy back," compared to $6,460 last December. This substantial increase can be attributed largely to a dramatic rise in the number of faculty members who submitted their requisition forms well in advance.

"We can't quantifiably say that it has boosted the December payout to students, but a significant majority of the increase can be attributed to timely submission," said College Store Book Department Manager Keith Conkin.

In recent years, according to the press release, approximately 125 of 375, or 30 percent, of all requisition forms have been submitted on time. For this spring's textbook cycle, that figure nearly doubled to 220 out of 375. This is due in large measure to the SGA's efforts to raise awareness among the faculty about the importance of timely form submission, which ensures that the College Store can offer students a fair price for their used books and can then resell the books at 75 percent of the new retail value.

"Late submission hurts students at buy-back and prevents us from acquiring and selling used books," said Conkin.

He added that while there is no specific deadline for requisition forms, faculty members are typically notified well in advance of the buy-back period, and are expected to submit in time for the College Store to process their textbook requests. The press release noted that an all-faculty e-mail will be sent out shortly outlining the aforementioned statistical improvements and alerting professors of the next buy-back, which begins May 5.

Conkin also pointed out the positive ecological implications of submitting requisition forms promptly. By purchasing and then reselling used books on campus, he said, the College Store is able to reduce shipping, which in turn reduces fossil fuel consumption and wasteful packaging.

Conkin and Best noted that, as buyers on the used book market, they face stiff competition from huge universities and that timely form submission is the best way to alleviate this pressure.

Some faculty members, said Conkin, have a history of dedication to the crusade against skyrocketing textbook costs. Truscott Professor of Chinese Studies John Berninghausen consults bookstore personnel well before the May and December buybacks in an effort to minimize textbook costs for his students. This semester, the cooperative efforts of Berninghausen and College Store employees yielded a significant cost reduction from $128.40 to $108.70 for CHNS 206 "Chinese Painting: Tradition and Innovation." The bookstore agreed to reduce the markup on three of its titles and took a 14 percent hit in the process.

That said, the College Store is also clearly doing what it can to help students bear the textbook burden. It typically sells textbooks at a 20 percent markup and trade books - anything other than textbooks - at a 40 percent markup. In an effort to mitigate rising costs for students, Conkin explained, the bookstore often slashes its trade book markup in half. For example, the price of "Stalin: A Biography" by Robert Service for History and Russian Studies Professor David Macey's HIST 404 "Readings in Russian Soviet History: Stalin and Stalinism" was reduced almost 30 percent, from the $29.95 retail price to a more appealing $21.60. The discounts for this title and others are marked with stickers on the reading lists posted in the College Store. In addition, the store is currently sponsoring a drawing to win free textbooks for the semester. Results will be announced on Friday.

The press release also cited the mathematics, religion, Spanish and physics departments as having a particularly high percentage of timely form submission and called for a continued effort on the part of all community members in order to consistently minimize textbook costs.

Statistics will be made available later in the semester regarding the expected increase in the number of used books sold by the College Store and the associated cost reduction for students.