How professors can save students money

Two deadlines for ordering textbooks each year have the potential of saving students a lot of money when they are respected by professors.

Pete Eisentrager, assistant director of UMKC Bookstores, reminded the UMKC Faculty Senate about the April 1 and Oct. 15 dates, as well as some other money-saving techniques, at an Oct. 7 meeting. He asked the Senate to spread the message to their respective academic units.

"Last year we provided more than $1 million in used textbooks," Eisentrager said. "That's about $325,000 in savings."

He then explained how those numbers could increase.

"The reason we ask for orders by [these dates] is we are competing with every other university in the country," Eisentrager said. "It's the name of the game - the earlier we have our orders, the earlier we can hit our wholesalers."

There are only four major wholesalers in the country, and those who are late find inventories depleted, he said.

There is another way late textbook orders punish students.

During the last two weeks of the semester, the bookstore's buyback program pays 50 percent of the price of a new book.

Eisentrager explained if a title has not been ordered for the following semester, the bookstores can only pay a very low price to a student, as it will presumably have to be resold to wholesalers.

"In the past two years, we've given about $680,000 in book buybacks, which in turn supplies us with used books," Eisentrager said. "It's almost like a rental program."

In fall 2008, on the day before finals-week book buyback, 72 percent of orders had been placed. In the spring of this year (a tougher deadline, according to Eisentrager,) 23 percent of orders had been placed for the fall courses.

This fall, things are not going as well.

On Nov. 13, almost a month after the initial deadline, 40 percent of orders had been placed, Eisentrager said. On Nov. 20, an e-mail marked "urgent" went out to campus faculty and staff, saying the percentage was still at 52 percent.

Starting on Nov. 10, the U-News conducted a survey of 180 professors chosen at random, asking if they had ordered their textbooks before November.

Of the 16 who replied, exactly half had not met the deadline. The most common reason cited was they were "too busy" or "simply forgot." Of those who had met the deadline, most said they usually used the same textbooks every year.

One common myth among professors, Eisentrager said, is they need to know exactly how many students will be enrolled in the class.

"We calculate our book orders individually for each class using historical data integrated with enrollment data updated three times a week," Eisentrager said.

He said UMKC Bookstores, using these methods, typically has about 30 percent of inventory left over, only slightly above the national average.

"All the professors need to do is tell us what titles they need," he said. "We do the rest - it's our job."

Another method for saving students money is for professors to avoid ordering books bundled with other materials, such as study guides, CDs or online-access scratch card codes.

"Publishers have become smarter," Eisentrager said. "And book reps earn higher commissions when selling these bundles to professors. The online codes can be used only once, and the CDs are often only valid for 120 days."

He said professors can also negotiate with salesmen.

"If you're ordering a textbook for 150 students, ask for a lower price," Eisentrager said. "They'll usually give it to you. They'll still be making money."

UMKC Bookstores buys in bulk together with the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Together, the three schools represent 60,000 students, making the group fourth in the nation in sales, according to Dennis Cesari, assistant vice chancellor for Business Services.

"But we're ranked around number 40 in overall gross margin that we put on our products," Eisentrager said. "We're not sticking it to our students."

MU started managing UMKC's operations in December 2005.

"At the time, the bookstore here on campus had a $1.9 million deficit," Cesari said.

He said the operation receives no funding from the university and must cover all of its own operating costs, but since then, with 100 percent of net revenue remaining on this campus, the deficit has been reduced by $860,000, with last year alone bringing in $340,000.

"When the deficit is paid off, it is the administration's intent that any future proceeds will go to some student-related function," Cesari said.

dsimons@unews.com