Every year there is at least one cost that catches students off-guard – textbooks.

Lines wind through every bookstore in Pullman as students come off their summer highs and prepare for classes. For some, the price tag alone is enough to encourage a studious mentality.

Local bookstores were surprisingly quiet for the weekend before classes. The longest line was to pick up books ordered with the dreaded pink slips. Most students inside the store shuffled anxiously from shelf to shelf, avoiding eye contact unless they needed help from a sales associate. The students who were willing to talk about their books seemed more relaxed and felt as though they were ahead of the game, though book prices were already taking their toll.

“The most I’ve ever paid for books is $902,” said junior genetics major Brett Kittle. He hoped book costs this semester would deflate with only 14 credits. However, he spent about the same this semester anyway.

Another junior wasn’t much more fortunate.

“The most I’ve spent on books is about $500 for one semester,” said Allen Cent, a junior speech therapy major. His fall semester book total ended up being nearly $840.

Some students look to the Internet to find better prices.

“I started renting books on Chegg.com,” sophomore communication major Reed Clarridge said. “You don’t get to sell them back at the end of the semester, but it’s still cheaper than buying books new.” Even if scholarship and grant money can assist, the totals are still enough to balk at, some say.

“My parents are paying for half of my books, and the rest comes out of my pocket,” said James Boatman, a junior computer engineering major.

James Ellis, a junior civil engineering major, had a more specific gripe.

“It sucks when the publisher changes something small, like the problems in the back of the book, so you can’t sell your book back,” he said.

I recommend students shop early, try to buy used books and share with fellow students when possible.