Foreword Online

Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers



The Return on Rental

Posted by Liz Schulte on 8/20/18 5:30 AM

A growing number of students are choosing not to purchase their course materials because of the cost associated with them. The practice causes the problems one would expect: more student stress as their grades take a hit, teacher frustration at students not being prepared and a lot of finger-pointing from everyone. The students blame the bookstore and the school. The bookstore could have had better prices on inventory if the faculty had their adoptions in on time. The faculty, in turn, are unaware of how their role can impact the cost to the student. Few people outside of the college store understand the whole process beginning to end — but everyone has an opinion. People want more cost-savings options. After new, used and digital course materials, what’s left? Rental.

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Join the Fight Against Campus Hunger

Posted by Liz Schulte on 4/5/18 5:30 AM

As food insecurity and homelessness among college students grow, the once parodied image of the starving student eating everything in sight ceases to be a laughing matter. Higher education for many is the pursuit of a better life. Along the journey toward that idealized destination, some students will face near-impossible hardships: surviving on one — if that — meal a day, finding a safe place to sleep each night and struggling to make it through each day until graduation. Without assistance, some will be forced to drop out.

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UNM Bookstore Ditches Traditional Margins, Adds Price Comparison and Sees Big Boost in Unit Sales

Posted by Dean Asher on 7/24/17 5:30 AM

University of New Mexico Bookstore Director Carrie Mitchell jokes that sometimes she thinks her state is a little behind the curve of textbook trends. When sales started to stagnate and decline for stores nationwide five or six years ago, as students flocked toward perceived better deals online, the UNM Bookstore remained steady.

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UCM University Store Wins New Student Hearts With Orientation

Posted by Lori Reese on 7/17/17 5:30 AM

If there’s one thing UCM University Store Director Charlie Rutt knows it’s that families new to the course materials world need guidance. Many students start school without awareness of the cost of textbooks. Rutt said that, unless families are warned, they will feel deceived when they discover how much they have to spend at the college store. It’s like being invited to a free dinner only to find out you have to pay when the check comes.

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MBS Expert: Benefits of Scale

Posted by Liz Schulte on 7/6/17 5:30 AM

We sat down with MBS’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jeff Miller to discuss the benefits MBS brings to partner schools through the size of the company and inventory.

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Cost Savings Through Scale

Posted by Liz Schulte on 6/20/17 5:30 AM

College stores are in a hard position. Stuck in the middle, everyone wants something. Students want lower costs. Faculty want their students to have their books in time for class. Administration wants to see the store make a profit. Making all three channels happy isn’t an easy task. Utilizing the principle of economy of scale can help you achieve that.

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Buyback Is Where Student Savings and Success Start

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 4/13/17 5:30 AM

When Googling “the rising cost of education,” more than 63 million articles are available for our reading pleasure. We don’t have the time to comb through articles and whitepapers trying to determine the socio-economic and political root causes. Regardless, the rising costs of education can be attributed to two factors:

  1. The rising cost of tuition
  2. The rising costs of course materials
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Campus Marketplaces: Beating 'em by Joining 'em

Posted by Dean Asher on 3/23/17 5:30 PM

You hear rumblings about a new website or service advertising itself on campus as the latest, best and only student-oriented, free marketplace for selling books, apparel and other items directly to other students.

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Kirkwood Community College: Communicating Success With Expo

Posted by Liz Schulte on 2/13/17 5:30 AM

Part of working in higher education is spending a good portion of each day trying to solve problems. What if you could address the concerns of faculty, staff and students while building your school’s relationship with its publishing partners, vendors and wholesalers — in just one event? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s what Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, recently did.

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Madison College Tackling Textbook Costs Through Teamwork

Posted by Liz Schulte on 2/9/17 5:30 AM

A frequent point of contention between students and their school is course material affordability. Students want better prices, but their expenses keep going up. Often the cost-savings battle is fought on all fronts with each side of the issue squared off into their own corner, but what if it didn’t have to be?

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