“I think the most I’ve spent on a book was $250,” said Rashod Holmes, 22, a business major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. “It was for a music book. Honestly, I don’t know why it was so much.”

While the economy seems to be lagging, students like Holmes say they’re looking at alternatives for buying and selling their textbooks before the fall semester kicks off later this month.

“This year going online is looking more appealing,” he said. “In the past, I have bought all my books at the (UMHB) bookstore. But I heard something about a Web site that allows you to rent books, and turn them in at the end of the year. I’m going to take a look at it.”

Kyla Taylor, 20, an exercise and sports science major, said she tries to buy her books on the online-auction Web site eBay.

“It’s usually a lot cheaper to purchase them,” said Ms. Taylor, about eBay. “I usually go to the bookstore to find out what the ISBN numbers are for the books before the semester starts, and go online and start looking.”

Ms. Taylor was visiting campus from San Antonio on Friday to see if the ISBN numbers for her textbooks for the fall semester were out.

“Sometimes I get pretty lucky and find the same book online for much cheaper,” said Ms. Taylor. “I think I spent $250 last semester on books, which isn’t bad.”

“It doesn’t have to do anything with the economy,” said Ms. Taylor. “It has to do with the fact that I don’t like paying a fortune for books.”

The only drawback about going online and getting books is that it takes forever sometimes for them to get shipped, she said.

“It can be difficult when you need the books right away.”

Students still seem to be going to the bookstore, even if it costs more. According to UMHB bookstore manager Debbie Cottrell, book sales remain solid, and on par with previous years.

“Overall, we haven’t seen a sales decrease,” she said. “Students are still coming in to buy books, and they line up at the end of the semester to sell them back.”

Although book sales have remained consistent, Ms. Cottrell admits students are finding other avenues for purchases.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the economy though,” she said. “I just think students are much smarter when it comes to their options.

“I think that students are waiting longer to purchase their books, to make sure they’re actually going to use them for their classes,” Ms. Cottrell said. “And I think that students today have grown up shopping online. They know how to find what they’re looking for, for a price they want, without leaving their house.”

Within the past year, the bookstore at UMHB has begun to offer students the ability to purchase their textbooks online.

“Our online purchase system has been successful,” Ms. Cottrell said, adding that there are advantages to purchasing books through campus bookstores.

“We have our books on the shelves for at least six weeks after semesters have begun,” Ms. Cottrell said. “It allows the students to prioritize and see which books they will actually need, and when.”

If students buy books online and find out they don’t need them, or the professor or instructor changes their mind and goes with another book, students are forced to pay for shipping and ask for returns.

“If that happens, and you buy your book here, within our return times, then you can get a full refund,” she said.

“There are also issues with supplements, like CD-ROMs, or workbooks that may come with the textbooks, that you may not receive if you don’t purchase your books in person,” Ms. Cottrell said. “I also personally enjoy being able to look at the quality of a book (if it’s used) before I purchase it.

“I also think that there’s a loyalty aspect to buying your books at your college,” she said. “The profit that is being made is going straight to the university, and your education.”

Ms. Cottrell would not elaborate on how much profit is made off individual books, or how prices are set, because prices vary depending on a number of issues, including availability.

“We have books that go from anywhere between $10 and $250,” she said. “The prices are really all over the map.”

Dr. Cathleen Early, of the UMHB Biology Department, said she tries to work with her students when selecting textbooks for her classes.

“The first thing I look at is obviously the content of a book,” Dr. Early said. “But when it comes to comparable books in that regard, I’ll go with the book that has the cheaper price.”

She said she tries not to put books on the list of required materials if they’re not going to be useful for the students.

“I remember how outrageous (textbook) costs were when I was in college, and I keep that in mind,” she said.

Summer book-buyback sessions begin at the UMHB bookstore Monday.