For cash-strapped students looking to save a buck or two on textbooks, their time may be coming.

On February 7, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to the Higher Education Act. Textbooks prices are a focus in bill H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008. It also proposes changes for tuition, loan lenders, loan counseling, grants and student safety, among other topics.

Should this bill be passed, textbook publishers would be required to be “transparent”. Each textbook company would have to reveal wholesale costs, an estimation of how the book is expected to stay current, as well as a breakdown of differences between current and previous editions.

In the meantime though, students have found other ways to cut corners on textbook costs. Web sites and social networking groups have popped up at schools across the country, and Butler is no exception.

Benny Martinson, a sophomore music composition major, used his Web design skills to create NoMoreMarkup.com which, according to the site, is “a service designed to hook up Butler students looking to buy or sell textbooks from each other without going through the campus bookstore.”

Students create a profile on the Web site that includes contact information, and then the books they are selling. Users can contact each other when they are interested in certain books listed.

“Buying books from students is really the best solution,” Martinson said. “All you have to do is meet with them and exchange the money with no middleman whatsoever.”

Martinson and other college students agreed that there is a misconception that the ability to pay for college transcends into the ability to pay for textbooks.

Megan Schwegel, a sophomore pre-pharmacy student, said that even though some students can afford a Butler education, many don’t realize that there are students on scholarships and grants.

“A lot of scholarships won’t cover textbooks,” Schwegel said. “If you get an outside scholarship for textbooks, they won’t send it to the school, they’ll send it to you directly.

“That means if you never get your books covered, you need to work for it. Seven hundred dollars in textbooks for my freshman year? I wasn’t prepared for that.”

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Government Accountability Office, students at four-year public institutions spent on average almost $900 on books and supplies during the 2003-04 school year.

One method to cut back on the cost of textbooks has come from the professors. There have been a growing number of professors posting excerpts of novels and documents on an educational networking site called Blackboard.

“I know professors who don’t have textbooks,” Jess Zimmerman, freshman political science major said. “They simply photocopy readings and give them to the students because it mitigates the cost to the student.

“But it doesn’t. What happens is you’re using department funds for photocopies, and that money could have been used for other things, so it will have to be made up another way. It will come back to the students somehow.”

“I’ve had professors try to help,” said Kevin Sasena, a junior business major. Sasena started Butler’s Facebook group “The Student Marketplace,” which helps students swap books.

“One [professor] was upset to find out that there was a book that was $180 and we couldn’t buy it used. So he didn’t give us a reading assignment for two weeks and told us to find a cheaper book,” he said.

Butler’s bookstore, managed by Follett Higher Education Group, maintains that despite technological advances the physical university bookstore will remain successful because of its proximity.

"The bookstore offers the convenience of one-stop shopping for a student to secure all their course needs," said Cliff Ewert, the media relations representative for Follett. "In addition, the bookstore stocks a full complement of used books which are 25 percent less than the new book price."

Not only does the bookstore ensure convenience, said Ewert, but it is also the bookstore’s responsibility to provide all required and recommended books in adequate quantities on a timely basis.

Tom Weede, Butler University’s vice president for enrollment management, does not see bookstores disappearing anytime soon.

“There are some physical reasons why books have remained,” Weede said. “It has to do with illumination. There is something about the black ink on the white pages that is a much better contrast than the computer screen. Will there ever be something to replace [books]? Maybe. Also, textbook reading is different. It’s easier to read notes in the margins.”

Others feel that textbook prices demonstrate the amount of time and scholarly effort put into the work. According to Ewert, textbooks cost more because they are more complex to create and publish.

“Creating a textbook that reflects the highest scholarly endeavor requires considerable time, effort and financial investment on the part of not only the author but also a full editorial team who must meticulously subject the content to close editorial scrutiny,” Ewert said.

One Butler English professor, Bill Walsh, agreed with this, but said the bookstore capitalizes on the buyback time period. This, Walsh said, gives no credit to those who put such hard work into the making of a textbook.

Walsh said, “The used textbook market is an utter and complete rip off because the people who produce the book – the publisher and the writer – get nothing.

“The bookstore buys back the books from the students at one-third and then sells it back for two-thirds. It’s pure profit. That’s exploitation. There’s something really wrong with that.”

Walsh said that that explains why publishers continue to print updated editions. “It’s self-defense on the part of the publishers.”

Sasena explained that publishers are pushing this trend to the extreme. One of his professors suggested that over time textbook publishers would update editions so frequently that a new edition would be required every year.

But Follett’s Ewert said such actions are necessary.

“[Textbook publishers] wouldn’t have to make new editions if they could count on selling the book for 10 years instead of one,” Ewert said. “If used booksellers and re-purchasers had to pay their way it would make a significant difference in the book publication business.”

Butler’s student body may have found an outlet though, that might help alleviate some of the financial burdens of textbooks.

The Council for Presidential Affairs (CPA) is an organization on Butler’s campus that seeks to bring community issues to the forefront and then find solutions.

In recent weeks, Purdue University notified Butler of their intentions to ask Indiana congressmen to cut taxes on textbooks. Jess Zimmerman, the academic affairs committee chair for CPA, is currently drafting a letter similar to Purdue’s that will petition the Indiana legislature to removes taxes on textbooks.

“If the government wants to take a stand and make that a priority, then helping students with textbooks taxes is one way to very loudly make that stand,” Zimmerman said. “[The state government] would be saying that it supports students and the economy of the state of Indiana and the education of the population of the state.”

The Wisconsin native recognized that such a change would not only benefit students but also the state.

“If you can invest in education and invest in demonstrating that government cares about education, it will encourage more students to remain here afterward,” Zimmerman said. “That would be a good thing for the state, because the more educated your population is the better people will do.”

Section 133 of the bill states that publishers will be required to work with faculty to promote understanding about prices to students, find ways to mitigate costs and to state whether books are available in other formats that may be cheaper.

The Butler community had mixed feelings about how this would affect textbook purchases.

"Anything that helps me make a more informed decision is a good thing," Zimmerman said. "That’s what we’re taught to do here and in classes. It’s about going out and finding all the info you can before you formulate a decision, be open to change and then decide."

Weede acknowledged that his department is aware of the updated bill, but said that many things could change before the bill is passed.

“With printing textbook information, we may find that it will be painful to implement,” Weede said. “Congressmen are remembering that they didn’t like textbooks, so everyone else remembers how much they didn’t like textbooks. So it’s an issue that’s become really noticed right now. But I don’t see a lot of changes in the future.”

Ewert had similar comments.

“[Follett] basically supports all legislation that can help students reduce the cost of textbooks, although many well intentioned bills may not produce those results.”

But information is never a bad thing, said Martinson.

“It’s always great to know how much it’s going to cost. Not only will that help students know what classes they can afford to take, but it will be an encouragement to classes that are requiring lots of unnecessary books to maybe look around for cheaper ones.”

For Zimmerman, the idea of cutting textbooks taxes may be a small, but important step in assisting students’ expenses.

“People who go to school are not only bettering themselves. But when someone is succeeding professionally and on a personal level, they are bettering their community. Anything the government can do to help students succeed on a personal academic level will help society in the long run.”