Did you know - a simple thing like submitting your book order by the October 15th deadline can have a big impact on how much UNL students pay for course textbooks. It not only affects the cost of the book they are buying for a course it also affects the sell back price of textbooks.
The traditional deadlines for getting textbook orders into the University Campus Bookstore are April 15 for Fall semester courses and October 15 for Spring semester courses.
In recent years, too many textbooks orders have been received after the order deadline. For comparison, eight-weeks before the 2013-14 academic year, compliance was 60%, in 2016-17 it was 70% and unfortunately, last year compliance dropped to 50%. The sooner the Campus Bookstore knows what textbooks to order, the cheaper it is to obtain both new and used books.
Placing book orders by the Fall and Spring due dates also assists with inventory control. This allows UNL students the ability to purchase the most affordable books available here on campus. Used book inventory at UNL may be moved to other locations if campus orders are not submitted by the deadlines. This means students may have to buy new, when used textbooks would have been made available if the deadline was met. Notifying the Campus Bookstore that you are not using a book through the UNL store can impact pricing to students.
There are other advantages to ordering early, for example, if a book is not a cheaper rentable book, it may become more affordable if the bookstore is aware instructors want to use it. Data shows that approximately one-third of students do not purchase a course textbook due to high costs.
One of the most effective ways to save students money on course materials is to simply meet the due dates. Ordering on time allows the Campus Bookstore to source used books from students, access the used textbook marketplace earlier and discuss affordability options such as rental and digital. Used, Rented and Digital textbooks ordered by the deadlines can save students between 25% and 80%.
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/v795