College Textbook Costs, In Their Words: Sarah Timmerman, University of Northern Iowa

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Sarah Timmerman

Q: How much did you pay for all textbooks, hardcopy and e-textbooks, this semester

Sarah Timmerman: For the fall semester, I paid $125 and then for the spring, I paid $80. Together, that’s $205 for this entire year.

Q: What was your most expensive book?

Timmerman: My most expensive books were for Russia/the Soviet Union. They were each about $35. That was for the fall. For the spring, it was an Arts Integration book—so it’s like how to incorporate the arts into a classroom, like dance, music, all that stuff. It cost $34.38.

Q: How often do you use your textbooks?

Timmerman: Some classes I use the textbook daily, but a lot of them I don’t use very often—maybe once a month.

Q: How much did you spend on textbooks this semester, not e-books?

Timmerman: About $30 for hard-copy [in the spring]. I spent about $105 for hard-copy for the fall.

Q: How often do you use the Internet?

Timmerman: I use it everyday, all the time.

Q: Did you resell your books from last semester?

Timmerman: I did.

 

Q: How much money did you get back for them?

Timmerman: Not a lot—$10 or $15 total. I sold one to a friend, but the rest were to the bookstore.

Q: Does the value you get from your textbooks match what you pay for them?

Timmerman: No, not at all.  

 

 

 

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