USG and CALPIRG try to help students save money on textbooks

Even the storm couldn’t stop students from trying to save money on books.

USG and CALPIRG hosted a bookswap Tuesday, an event aimed at helping students get their textbooks without emptying the bank.

“I think it’ll save me tons of money from buying [books] from the bookstore because they overcharge for their books,” said Andrew Park, a sophomore majoring in economics.

The swap, which continues Wednesday, lets students name their price for books they are selling, rather than receive the typically small amounts given for book buyback at the bookstore.

“I think that students really need cheaper textbooks and so any way we can provide an opportunity for them, students are going to take advantage of it,” said Andrew Matson, USG’s director of academic affairs.

Students wanting to swap textbooks can bring unwanted books and state their price range. Because it can be difficult to assess how much a book costs, Matson suggested researching the price beforehand. Matson likened the bookswap to a free market enterprise, where books are competitively sold.

USG hopes to eventually offer the bookswap in partnership with the bookstore.

“I really hope the bookstore sees this as an opportunity rather than an opponent,” Matson said.

Daniel Archer, director of the bookstore, said although the book store has not considered a book swap, he found the idea interesting.

“I suppose it will be successful,” Archer said. “I would like to be able to see what that price would be in comparison to what they would have gotten back…during our buyback.”