Matt Weir / The Collegian

If tuition costs haven’t made you cry, add on the prices of your textbooks and you might be reduced to tears.

“I paid $600 for my books this semester. Is this normal?” asked freshman Tawnie Kroll, in her first experience of buying textbooks on her own for each class.

Like Kroll, some students are upset about having to pay so much for textbooks in addition to the fee increase.

Business marketing major Samantha Clark has gone through five years of purchasing textbooks.

“It’s ridiculous how much books cost,” said Clark, who spent $900 on books last semester. “I’m nervous about how much it’ll cost me this semester because most of the books that I have to get are brand new.”

Fresno State Kennel Bookstore employees said they feel for students when they are buying their books.

“There is no denying that textbooks are expensive.” Susan Bartel, Kennel Bookstore’s Book Department Manager said, “If I had to buy those books, I’d be upset too. Book publishers charge what they want to charge. We can’t control them. We have to price them on how we are billed.”

With Fresno State’s budget cuts, the Kennel Bookstore, a private and nonprofit organization, is also suffering from money lost from books that had been ordered for classes only to find out that those classes were dropped from the schedule.

“As far as book cancellations and students returning their books after just buying them, this year has been the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Bartel, who has worked at the Kennel Bookstore for almost 30 years. “We’ve definitely been affected by budget cuts as far as the service to the university. How could anyone associated with the school not be?”

The California State Student Association and the Kennel Bookstore have been working together for the past year to find ways to have students’ interest at best when buying books.

With a suggested 25 to 29 percent gross margin set by the CSSA, The Kennel Bookstore has maintained a 23 percent gross margin reduction, one of the lowest, if not the lowest margin in the CSU system.

“Even though the prices for books are still expensive, Fresno State students don’t have it as bad as other colleges,” Ron Durham, director of the Kennel Bookstore said. “We never raise the margin because of freight costs or labor costs. It’s already included in the 23 percent.”

Book rentals have been added to the Kennel Bookstores system this year, as a new alternative for students, can save anywhere from 60 to 65 percent. A program that begun in the fall 2008 semester, the Kennel Bookstore currently has four titles: Biology 10, Communication 8, Nutrition 53, and Anthropology 161.

“This is something we would like to do more of in the future, but it can be difficult,” Durham said. “Twenty percent of students don’t return their books on time and five percent of students don’t return their books at all.”

With technology advancing, the Kennel Book Store also offers students a selection of over 100 electronic book titles that could save students anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent.

“Perhaps in five years, the electronic books and electronic readers will be the popular thing to do, but I think it’s a generation thing. It just hadn’t caught on quite yet,” Durham said.

The Kennel Bookstore has also worked with surrounding bookstores such as Sequoia Textbooks in giving students more options to choose from when buying books. Durham suggests students seek additional online sources when buying books as well, such as www. half.com.

“They do have books cheaper; however, there are risks involved. If you buy a book and your class happens to get dropped, you can’t return it.” Durham said, “With the Kennel Book Store, students can return their books if they have their receipt.”