Purchasing textbooks can be frustrating and expensive. Although many students still purchase books from Ames bookstores, some have shifted to purchasing books online.

“I did about half-and-half,” says Kim Behrend, junior in journalism and mass communication. “Sometimes it was cheaper and more convenient to get it from the bookstore; sometimes I saved a lot by ordering online.”

Behrend says she saved money online on her more expensive textbooks, buying them used at a greatly reduced cost. For the smaller items, such as novels, she says she found the bookstore’s prices almost equivalent.

Regarding textbook profits, Campus Book Store declined comment.

Rita Phillips, assistant manager of the University Book Store, wants students to know that the bookstore isn’t getting rich from textbooks.

“Textbooks themselves are the lowest margin item we have,” says Phillips, “and that hasn’t changed for twenty-plus years.”

Phillips says she thinks students assume that the bookstores keep raising the prices when the publishers are to blame. She says the store typically makes money with volume; however, due to gas surcharges, UBS won’t make a profit on some items.

Phillips said she wants to remind students that UBS is owned by Iowa State.

“Money spent here, stays here,” says Phillips. “If there is money at the end of the year, it’s not a profit – it’s a surplus.”

Surplus at the end of the year goes to fund activities on campus.

“It supports the textbook scholarships that we do, the orientation binders for freshmen . those cost $12,000 a year,” says Phillips. “We are constantly putting money back into the university and the organizations: Homecoming, Veishea – those activities. When students shop elsewhere, that money isn’t going back to the university.”

Phillips says students are very important to the bookstore, so one of its goals is to treat students with trust and respect. She wants students to keep their backpacks closed, but they get to bring them into the store.

Although she hopes staff and service set UBS apart, Phillips says she is concerned about parking availability. A parking voucher will be given for the Memorial Union parking ramp for any person spending $10 or more, although many students aren’t aware of this benefit.

“I know it would probably be cheaper for me to buy books online, but I think it’s easier to just get them from the University Book Store,” says Alia Brown, sophomore in community and regional planning. “I don’t want to mess around waiting for my books and I know that the money I spend goes back to my school.”