Right up there with tuition and student loan expenses, the soaring cost of textbooks ranks as a top complaint of college students and their parents.

Tuesday, the University of Massachusetts flagship campus at Amherst announced it's taking dramatic action to lower the cost of textbooks. Starting in May, the campus bookstore’s textbook sales will be replaced by Amazon.com, which is promising on average 31 percent lower prices, with free overnight delivery to campus and nearby off-campus locations.

UMass is the first college in New England – and only the third in the U.S. – to outsource its textbook sales to Amazon (the two others are Purdue and the University of California at Davis). UMass deemed Amazon the best of six bidders. It will continue to have a campus store that sells clothing and merchandise, but convert that store’s 8,500-square-foot textbook annex into a space about one-third as big for Amazon pickups. Amazon will be offering new, used, rental, and digital versions of textbooks to students.

Across the state at Boston College, the UMass move was drawing rave reviews Tuesday afternoon.

"Last semester, I spent close to $1,000" on textbooks, said BC freshman Kevin Lahiff, a native of Norwell. "My Dad was definitely not happy about it. But you need to buy them to take classes, so you really can't avoid them."

Replacing the college bookshop with Amazon, Lahiff said, "sounds like a great idea. Hopefully BC uses that here, saves us some money."

Based on average U.S. textbook spending figures from the College Board, Amazon and UMass are estimating students could save, on average, $380 a year through lower-priced Amazon books.

"I believe that," said Emily Whapham, a sophomore physics major from Marlborough. "Amazon is definitely cheaper than the bookstore."

With classes resuming the day before after the Christmas break, Whapham said she was still feeling stunned by her last trip to the bookstore, when she rented – not even bought – three textbooks for a cost of $300.

Sophomore Mike McShane, from Mansfield, hasn't waited for BC to consider following UMass Amherst's lead.

"I just go to Amazon anyway," McShane said. "I think I save a lot. I can’t give an exact percentage, but I feel like I spend a lot less than other people."

With videographer John J. Hammann