Biology and business majors spend an estimated $550-700, while English majors spend around $300
By Christine Boynton, News Co-Editor
As an English major with a business major roommate, I’ve always been amazed at how much more books can cost each semester, depending on your particular area of study. I would come back from the bookstore, complaining about my $270 book load, only to get glares from other apartment mates, who dropped over $500.
According to Kyle Meloche, McDaniel College Bookstore manager, it is the biology and business majors who spend the most each fall semester, and the English majors who spend the least.
He estimates that these majors spend around $550-700, while English majors will typically spend around $300 a semester. However, he adds “It is a bit difficult to say due to the BLAR requirements that students have to take as well.”
Senior political science major Mollie van Lieu said that her more expensive books were for BLARs. The books for her major tend to be cheaper, because they’re usually specifically-themed entries instead of giant textbooks.
Senior biochemistry major Dennis Marcelo estimated he’s spent nearly $2,000 on books for science alone.
“I recommend future students go online to get them cheaper,” Marcelo said. He recalled a friend who bought a textbook online for over $100 less than the book store.
After doing a search of textbook costs by subject on a college textbook website, I recorded the price of the first 20 books listed and did the average cost of one book for eight different subject areas. The lowest price, on average, for a single book was in the Arts & Humanities, with the highest being in Business and Economics.
Additional reporting contributed by Geoff Peckham.