Happy National Student Day!

Today is the inaugural National Student Day, a day celebrating and promoting college students’ social responsibility. More than 500 college stores across the United States and Canada are holding celebrations recognizing their students. Some of the events taking place include food drives, giveaways, and even a pet adoption. Visit the National Student Day Facebook page often over the next few weeks to see pictures of the celebrations.

Also, the National Student Day contest will close on Oct. 14 at 5pm EST. We have more than 100 stories! If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to read some of the entries as some of them are very heartwarming.

CAMEX and digital course materials

Publisher's Weekly had an article this week on CAMEX and the emphasis on a future of online business, including digital course materials. The article briefly captures some of the current initiatives underway within NACS Media Solutions and its partners.

Students prefer print to digital

Yet another study found that roughly 75% of students prefer print to digital. The recent BISG study, Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education, mirrors similar earlier findings by both the Student PIRGs and NACS. The NACS data went beyond this particular finding to ask if student preference for print over digital was their primary reason not to buy digital. The NACS data saw a significant shift in recent years away from this preference being the primary reason not to buy -- with the availability of digital inventory and faculty preference and usage of print over digital quickly growing among the top reasons why students choose to buy print over digital.

Among other interesting stats from the BISG study 60% of students say they place a high value on their textbooks, and roughly 65% of those are still buying their textbooks from the college store. While promising, this does suggest significant loss of market share among college stores over the past decade. In fact the BISG study found that 20% of students are buying their textbooks from Amazon.com, and more than 40% said they bought a textbook from a pirate site or know others who have. Price and convenience are key drivers in this shift -- similar to the factors that initially stimulated piracy in the music industry.

Regardless, these data points should be leading collegiate retailers to ask some tough questions about their product mix, the return of revenues, market share retention, and how they compete online.

Textbook rental programs proliferating on campus

Last fall, 2,200 college stores reported offering textbook rental programs, up from only 300 just a year earlier, according to OnCampus Research, a division of NACS.

Demand for lower textbook prices from both consumers and legislators has spurred college stores to explore new ways of doing business. By renting, students generally pay only 33%-55% of the full price of a textbook.

Based on the results of their initial forays, two-thirds of the stores participating in the OnCampus survey said they plan to expand their rental offerings. Of the responding stores that didn’t offer a rental program, 43% said they plan to launch one. In addition, another 200 chain-managed college stores will add rental programs for the spring semester.

"This means that almost 2,400 college stores are currently offering textbook rentals, and more than 3,000 should be offering textbook rental by next fall,” says Charles Schmidt, NACS director of public relations.