Bookholders is a textbook store located on Route 1 in College Park, Md.

With estimates from the College Board that books and supplies cost the average student about $1,200 per year, students at this university are seeking the lowest textbook prices in the first week of school.

Some are finding solutions outside of buying new textbooks at the university bookstore. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group reported in January that book costs have risen by 82 percent in the last 10 years — a number the report argued was fueling a need for alternative options.

“My principle is: wherever is the cheapest,” said sophomore computer science major Ruoyu Lei, who buys books most often from Amazon and BookHolders.

Alexander Colaciello, a junior supply chain management and operations management major, uses the university website as a reference to find the titles but rents his books from Chegg. He said he rented two books from there.

The rise of technology such as tablets and e-readers have also enabled students to more easily invest in online textbooks, which are sometimes cheaper and more convenient to carry.

The Internet assists in buying textbooks in other ways, too. Some mobile apps collect and compare book prices from the Web.

Shannon Gierl, a junior management major, said she does not buy from the university bookstore because the prices are too high. She also said that when selling textbooks back to the store, it offers only a small fraction of the original cost.

Joshua Gunn, the general manager at Maryland Book Exchange, said the store has a website on which students can order textbooks and get them shipped in addition to simply buying them at the bookstore. Students can look up textbooks by class.

The exchange goes through the university’s main website to check the enrollment for each class, Gunn said. After seeing the list, they order the books.

BookHolders, as well as some bookstores, offers students the opportunity to order online and choose either to pick up their books for free or get free deliveries.

Milly Gu, a junior accounting major, gets her books from the campus bookstore, as some of her textbooks require an access code. She says it is still expensive, but she tries to rent.

“Buying online is cheaper and convenient,” she said.