by Bess Given
Daily Lobo
Brad Cash, an electrical engineering major, says UNM's buyback program seems like a very simple and perfect plan, but it is not beneficial to all students.
Students looking to receive the full amount paid for their books will likely be disappointed. Some UNM students said the program is frustrating.
"You pay around $500 for one or two books, and only end up receiving $100 back for it," Cash said. "Then the bookstore will turn around and sell it for $400."
Paige Lucas, a student employee at the UNM Bookstore, said most of the textbooks can be bought back for up to 30 to 50 percent of the original price.
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Not all textbooks can be sold back to the bookstore during the buyback period. Many times, professors use new editions of a textbook and the bookstore will not buy older editions.
Joe Sanchez, a student employee at the UNM Bookstore, said not all books are requested by professors to be bought back for the next semester. If they are requested, the buybacks are on a first-come, first-served basis.
"If a professor only wants 50 books for their class next semester, they will only request 50 books," Sanchez said. "Those first 50 students that come to sell back their books will be able to do so, but student No. 51 is out of luck."
Lucas said the courses most likely to change textbooks from semester to semester come out of the Mathematics and Statistics Department and the Anderson Schools of Management. Textbooks can also change when instructors request a different text for upcoming courses. If instructors do not request a specific book, there could be a professor at another campus that does.
"UNM, as well as many other campuses around the country, participate in the textbook buyback program," Lucas said. "This means that the textbooks being bought back might not necessarily be used at UNM, but may have use at another campus. That also means that UNM is receiving used books from campuses around the country."
Though some students said the program is not fair, others said there are cases where it makes sense.
Junior Courtney Pompa said the UNM textbook-buyback program is very useful for part-time and full-time students.
"For the classes that are not part of your major, the benefit of selling the textbooks back to the bookstore completely outweigh the costs of keeping them, and never opening the books up again," Pompa said. "However, I wish the bookstore would buy the textbooks back for more money."
Buybacks start today and will run through May 18. The bookstore will also be buying back textbooks in the lobby of the Student Residence Center May 11 through May 13.
