College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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■%« l.rfl Thr BookUir providp rvrry- line wirh Ihc rhdncr lo ' beat Ihc iy»- jnd find nrrdcd tvH)k t for a rr4v n.iblr price, hiiwrvpronc cuuld V hope thdt Ihc book rhry were liMikinR for wrrr not in high dc- m.ind Tables wrnp dlwiy crowded with hoprful hunter . And while vime were ucce»»ful. other learned to unn and bear it Left: Vlajonng in a language added to the already hefty book bill as Liz Ransom realized dunng her visit to the Bookstore.

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Below: It is advantageous for the buyer to check similar books for the lowest price. Lee Trezise , Lauren MacDonald, and Betsey Never tried to get the best price through com- parison shopping at the Bookfair Right: Bringing their final purchases to the counter at the Bookstore, Beth Ann Hollaway and Nha Le watch their bills increase with each book purchase. The prices of books at the Bookstore had risen steadily with each new edition from the publisher -IQin Where does it all go — THE SHRINKING DULLAR Samuelson ' s Economics sold for $36.95 and The National Experience Part U was $18.65 in 1985 — in 1987 they were selling for $42.55 and $23.40 respectively. The Riverside Shakespeare had a price of $32.95 in 1986 but had a price rise of over $6 in the next year Remember buying some of these books and feeling outraged at paying such sums for them? Text book prices rose 20% between 1985 and 1987. The most popular campus scapegoat was the bookstore. The bookstore was an auxil- iary service of the College, and the textbook section was a break-even business. The markups they put on the text- books were just enough to cover their costs. One of the biggest prob- lems with the bookstore ' s used book buy-back was that often they either would not buy a book back or they did not give the 50% they prom- ised. It ' s very frustrating selling books back to the bookstore. Either they give me a $1 for a $20.00 book or they won ' t take the book at all, commented one dis- gruntled student. At the end of each semester, the book- store hired a used book com- pany to handle the used book buy-back for them. The com- pany received a list from the bookstore of any titles that would be used the next se- mester. If the book a student was selling would be used the next semester, it was bought back by the bookstore for 50% of the cover price. Yet, if the book was not need- ed by the bookstore, the stu- dent was not guaranteed the 50% price. The bookstore then marked the used books up to 75% of the cover price. To cov- er sales costs, and to cover the possible losses. If a used book was not sold, the bookstore was stuck with it. Last year alone, over $8000.00 of un- sold books had to be trashed. The overall book picture for students was not bright. Publishers issued new edi- tions of books every three years on the average, simply due to the used book market. When a publisher published a new book, the first year the sales were high while succes- sive years saw sales decrease. Because many people bought the book used, and the longer the life of the edition, the more used books there were in circulation. The publisher made no money from the sec- ond-hand sale of the book, so it was in his interest to issue a new edition. It was a mad- dening situation for the stu- dent. Comments Junior Su- san Strobach, It makes me mad when they change one problem in an Accounting book and call it a new edi tion. There were alternatives for those who could not afford the high prices of new books. The biggest one was the Stu- dent Association Book Fair. SAVice President for Student Services, Tom Deutsch, esti- mated thai the spring sale had 5000 — 6000 books. About 500 — 600 students took advantage of the sale. Deutsch added that the SA was looking into other po- tential sources for bringing in a bigger and better selec- tion of books. He hoped to double the number of books available at the sale. Between new editions ev- ery three years and a 20% price increase in the last two years a student could go broke paying for books alone. The best advice around: get in line early for the book fair —Jill Walker

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Relationships Sometimes Absence Really Does Make The Heart Grow Fonder Staring at huge phone bills with the same number listed over and over again; starting spring break countdown the first day of second semester; waiting impatiently for those 11PM phone calls; spending hours in the Bookstore in search of that perfect card . . . These were only some of the symptoms affecting a si- zeable percentage of the Wil- liam and Mary population: those enrolled in a long dis- tance relationship. Having a boyfriend or girl- friend at home (hence the af- fectionate nickname home- town ) requires perserver- ance, trust, and a very friendly relationship with AT T. The boy girlfriend back home phenomenon of- ten began during the fresh- man year, when a couple in high school separated to at- tend different colleges. Sometimes the arrangement worked well, even though seeing one another was limit- ed to school vacations and all-to-infrequent weekends. Other times, however, the distance proved to be too much and the relationship suffered as a result. Long distance relation- ships had obvious disadvan- tages. Being hours away from a boyfriend or girlfriend could be painful, particularly during a long separation. Long distance cal ls, even if they were the next best thing to being there, were not near- ly as satisfying as actually be- ing there. Plus, the enormous phone bills resulting from this alternative always seemed higher than they should be. Even with the re- duced rates after 11PM, those extra few minutes could real- ly add up. It was often the case that the date of the long awaited dance or other social event was the only time a boyfriend or girlfriend could Top: Returning to W M to visit boy girlfriends left behind after gradu- ation was a common occurence. Andy Hunt, busy with a new job found the time to visit frequently with his fiance Kristen North. Right: Letter writing was the savior to many long distance relationships when phone bills became too expen- sive. Unfortunately, when the rela- tionship ended, students faced emp- ty boxes. not come to visit. Despite the bills, schedul- ing problems, and separa- tion, long distance relation- ships had a definite positive side. To quote an anonymous hometown, The time is so much more important when we ' re together. Since he ' ll only be here for a little while, every minute counts. Even if the visit was less than a day. the time was extra-valuable and top priority. What was the best thing about long distance relation- ships? The answer was unanimous: finally being to- gether. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it could not beat the feeling when that long-awaited someone came to town. —Nancy Hayes • 2888 2902 2916 2930 • 2931 2932 1 ' - 1 2933 j 2934 jl 2889 2903 2917 2890 2904 B 2919 • • 2891 2905 2892 2906 41 2920 k • m