Self-operated bookstores are becoming increasingly burdened by the complex requirements of managing course materials from negotiating prices with multiple publishers, to navigating state textbook regulations, competing with online sellers, and managing custom course packs and digital materials. Fast-evolving textbook service demands can strain staff and resources.

As technology permeates more and more aspects of our lives, colleges and universities continue to implement new programs and tools to help administration, faculty, and students simplify their day. Most schools have software systems for managing everything from admissions to finances to curriculum, but when it comes to the adoption and purchasing of course materials, many institutions still use a manual process through a physical store.

Operating a campus store can be a complex task, especially when it comes to providing textbooks and course materials. From managing adoptions to working with publishers to the logistics of inventory, back orders, and returns, it can be immensely difficult to ensure that every textbook is made available to students in multiple formats, at an affordable price. College students are some of the most price-sensitive shoppers in the world, so it comes as no surprise that textbook revenues at the campus bookstore continue to decline as students shop around. Losing students to other shopping platforms causes wasted time and resources and hurts institutional programs that depend on bookstore revenue. In addition, when students purchase outside the campus bookstore, the school loses important information on student preparedness that can be used as a data point to analyze retention and graduation rates.

At the start of every term, college students are faced with the challenge of buying their textbooks and course materials, hopefully prior to the first day of class and without emptying their wallets. Unfortunately, many students will forgo buying their materials because of the high cost and uncertainty they will actually be used. Faculty and administration alike understand how important it is for students to be prepared with all materials on or before the first day of class and are making strides to assure barriers to purchase are removed.

At the end of each school term, students experience plenty of stress while they study for exams, secure internships, move out of student housing, and await final grades. However, for many students, anxiety also builds over how much money they will receive for their textbooks during buybacks.

While exams and final grades are part of college life, textbook buybacks have often led to frustration and disappointment as students are surprised by the buyback value of their textbooks, oftentimes receiving pennies on the dollar of the original prices.

After speaking extensively with students and school administrators alike about buyback programs, we recognized that, not only are they a common frustration for students and universities, there’s an important factor that has gone largely overlooked:

Student estimates of future buyback prices influence when and how they obtain their course materials.

As the initial decision around textbooks occurs long before the buyback process ever begins, students cannot accurately estimate future buyback prices. This lack of transparency has left students in the dark over whether to buy used, new, or rent their materials. Some students, concerned over a potentially low or altogether absent buyback value, may even wait until later in the semester to purchase, impacting their performance and learning.

Why paying your way through college is a thing of the past.

As the presidential debates kick off, everyone is talking about the big issues leading up to the 2020 election. The largest economic issue is one that is becoming impossible to ignore -  the student loan debt crisis. The newest study by Textbookrush.com has provided further proof that for most students, coming out of school debt free is a thing of the past. Forty years ago, a student attending college could pay for their tuition and housing by simply working a part time job, something that is impossible to accomplish today.

The number of hours required to work in order to cover education costs has skyrocketed due to the rising costs of education and the decline of wages compared to inflation. Over the past forty years, the cost of tuition and housing has increased over 250% while the cost of textbooks rose over 1000%. In this time, the value of the minimum wage has declined fairly steadily since its peak in 1968 and possibly even more unsettling - the federal minimum wage has not changed in over ten years. The following illustrates how many hours a student would need to work at minimum wage to pay for their education.