Supply and demand

I know an undergraduate who paid $150 for a textbook. To get the most out of his education, he spends so much time studying he doesn't have time for a job, and his family's financial situation doesn't allow him much to spend money from mom and dad. His grades got him the $2,500 honors scholarship, but he still spent over 400 bucks at the bookstore this semester.

We're being charged too much.

The North Campus bookstore asks $6.99 for a notebook, and Fresh?Aens charges $4 for a smoothie. You can expect to drop the tip money you made bussing tables just to get lunch at Pistachio's, and a simple t-shirt nearly anywhere on campus will run you sometimes as much as 20 bucks.

And we haven't even started talking about the textbook industry yet.

Hundreds -and maybe thousands- of undergraduate students on campus struggle to make ends meet at the beginning of each semester. When professors distribute the lists of required reading, the newest editions float to the top, along with study guides and workbooks that most students don't even end up using. When the texts come packaged, you don't even have the option to buy them used.

What changes in between these editions? You'd be surprised. An industry will change around a few practice questions in the back and slap "sixth edition" on the front, just to put out a newer book and keep students from buying used ones from each other.

The majority of the revenue from textbooks goes to publishers and licensing, so generally it's not the fault of the bookstore that your required reading is so steep. But three bucks for a 70-page spiral notebook? The bookstore is definitely making out like a bandit, at the very least, on school supplies.

College students by nature are impoverished. We take jobs at factories and tollbooths just to support our own grocery bills. We beg for help from parents and groan over how much a summer class costs per credit hour.

Even so, someone at the campus bookstore is leaning back in an expensive office chair and rubbing their hands together, profiting from students struggling to afford an education.

That person is probably not bookstore director Greg Neumann. His take on the whole situation is that the store offers products of a much higher quality than local grocery stores. The products stamped with the UB logo suffer licensing fees in addition, so that's why the price seems so high. "It's a supply and demand thing," Neumann says.

His advice led me to the UB Foundation, a revenue and fundraising organization dedicated to raising money for services on campus. They developed the bookstore, and now they receive revenue from it. The foundation also helped develop the Center for Tomorrow and the president's residence.

Is that where our money is going? I'm uncomfortable with the thought that I paid the little finger on my right hand for a Sharpie, just so a bunch of suits from SA can yap over a tray of cupcakes in luxury.

A look at the foundation's financial report on the Web site offered few answers. Categories like "administrative expenses" and "campus services" took up a good chunk of the group's spending in 2004-2005.

The UB Foundation did not call me back about their profits and prices, and the bookstore representatives were little help in answering why prices are so high. One of them did give me a good bit of advice, however: "Just shop somewhere else."

A day of chasing down administrators about where my money goes led me nowhere. The only answers I have to offer are my own pieces of advice.

Professors, don't buy into new editions. Older editions are just as useful but cost much less once new ones come out. If you're unsure about the differences, compare the old and new editions to see if any important changes really were made.

Students, take the advice of the bookstore representative: shop elsewhere. Take advantage of the SA book exchange and used text Web sites like Amazon and Half.com. If you don't have a car, organize a grocery store trip with friends when you need a new marble notebook (it'll run you $2.99 on campus and $.88 at Wal Mart).

And finally, to the bookstore and UB Foundation: have mercy on us. College students work hard for little money and can't afford to keep dropping a semester's salary just to afford the next edition of useless workbooks.

If anyone out there has better luck than I did, let me know. I'd be interested to know where my money is really going.