Check out our expanded comic section “Free Ice Cream.” See pg. 43 Commentary: Modern menswear forecasts a feminine future See pg. 33
Bi-weekly SGA update premieres
15
Online exclusive video
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2013
VOLUME 48, ISSUE 16
Making cents of textbook sales 77.4¢
10.7¢
Textbook Wholesale Cost
College Store Personnel
Includes paper, printing, administrative costs, marketing, publisher and author income.
Includes employee salaries and book ordering, pricing and shelving.
3.7¢
1.0¢
College Store Operations
College Store Income
Freight Expense
Includes insurance, utilities, rent and maintenance.
Includes the bookstore’s profit after personnel and operation costs.
Includes the cost of shipping books from the publisher to the bookstore.
7.2¢
Photo Illustration James Foster and Heidi Unkefer THE CHRONICLE
by Alexandra Kukulka Campus Editor
TEXTBOOKS ARE A necessary expense for college students, but that doesn’t make their often astronomical price tags any more bearable. Adding to the financial woe is the
often frustrating experience of selling books, usually for much less than what students originally paid. But not many students know where that missing money ends up. When selling books back to the bookstore at the end of the semester, the most a student can be
refunded on one book is 50 percent of its purchased price if it is returned on time and in good condition, said Columbia’s Bookstore Manager Ann Marie Pausha. According to 2011 National Association of College Stores data, 77.4 percent of every dollar paid
for textbooks goes back to the publisher, a nearly 20 percent increase from 2005, when the publisher received 64.7 percent per dollar per textbook. The textbook publisher, guided by instructor book forms, which state whether the instructor will
keep the same book or change editions, dictates how much money students can get back for textbooks. According to the 2011 data, 10.7 percent of every dollar goes toward bookstore personnel salaries, xx SEE TEXTBOOKS, PG. 10
Businesses taken to ‘El-evated’ heights by Will Hager
Assistant Metro Editor WITH MORE THAN half a mil-
Carolina Sanchez THE CHRONICLE
The Chicago Kernel, located at the Chicago Red Line terminal, 800 N. State St., is one of several locally-owned businesses to set up shop in Chicago Transit Authority storefronts.
CAMPUS
Columbia’s $5 meal deal • PAGE 4
SPORTS & HEALTH
Super Bowl XLVII predictions • page 17
lion rail-riders daily, the Chicago Transit Authority is seeking to attract businesses to set up shop in its station storefronts to entice commuting customers. As a part of an $86 million initiative to rehabilitate six Red Line stations, the CTA began marketing renovated retail spaces at the Argyle, Granville and Morse stops on Jan. 16. The three renovated stops account for 10 of the 20 available storefront spaces across all lines except the Yellow Line, according to CTARealEstate.com. Jones Lang LaSalle, the CTA’s real estate management company, is accepting applications through Feb. 15 from businesses seeking to fill vacancies. Lambrini Lukidis, a CTA media
ARTS & CULTURE
Celebrity impersonators revealed • page 22
spokeswoman, said the transit authority is looking to diversify its storefronts in an effort to appeal to a wide variety of patrons. “We do take into consideration the kind of business and the types of things they offer our customers because we do want to be able to offer a variety of things,” Lukidis said. “We have a very diverse customer base, so we like to try to offer new and fresh items for our customers.” Lukidis said the CTA partnered with Jones Lang LaSalle in 2008 in hopes of filling all available storefronts and creating a thriving market for CTA customers. She said the CTA is excited about expanding the number of services customers can access during their commute. Of the CTA’s 79 occupied storefronts, 44 of them are locally-owned businesses, according to Lukidis. “Overall, we are really happy
METRO
Cigarette smugglers skirt taxes • page 35
with the level of interest and growth that we’ve seen in the retail spaces,” Lukidis said. “We obviously welcome chains as well because they serve a large group of our customers, but it’s nice to see that we are spurring economic growth with locally-owned businesses.” Butterfield Kitchen, an organic and gourmet foods cafe, is one of the most recent businesses to acquire CTA retail space. The Wilmette, Ill.-based company is opening two locations: one at the Roosevelt station at 1167 State St., serving Orange, Green and Red lines, and the other at the Jefferson Park Blue Line station, 4963 N. Milwaukee Ave. Each Butterfield Kitchen storefront has a full kitchen and uses electric cooking equipment in compliance with CTA xx SEE STORES, PG. 39
INDEX
Campus .......................................................3 Sports & Health ..........................................13 Arts & Culture ..............................................19 Commentary ..............................................32 Metro ........................................................35