The Campus Improvement Movement has found a new way to save students money, and the resulting measure is anything but textbook.
ASUO Senate Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg is working in conjunction with the Campus Improvement Movement to pass a measure that could save students hundreds of dollars per year.
The measure, which was turned in just before spring break, would charge the ASUO with exploring possibilities for creating a system that would allow students to trade used textbooks amongst themselves. The measure does not require an actual program implementation.
“It doesn’t sound like a whole lot but it’s actually a major step forward,” Rosenberg said. “Ballot measures are a thermometer for the campus; they measure what students want. It’s the most powerful way to make a decision. This is the way to get the ASUO to start on something.”
Still, Rosenberg said the measure will be enough to get a program started. While collecting the 1,000 required signatures for the measure, he said there was overwhelming student support. The requirement was met in three days.
“I think it would be a great idea because the bookstore definitely rips you off on your books,” said University senior Kristen Lee. She is frustrated with the bookstore’s tendency to not buy books back, and the discrepancies in pay-out. She said it’s a “first-come, first-served” system.
In order for the measure to pass, though, students will need to actually go out and vote. Rosenberg is hoping that a measure that so directly affects students will be enough to draw people who wouldn’t normally take the time to vote.
“We want to lower textbooks in a tangible way,” he said. “The goal is to save students as much money as possible. The first step is to get the students to say ‘Yes, we want this,’ and then the planning stage is next.”
The “textbook exchange,” completely independent of the University Bookstore, would be modeled after systems already in place at institutions such as Oregon State University and Lane Community College. It would allow students to sell or trade books amongst themselves at a lower cost, as opposed to going through the bookstore.
Rosenberg said the exchange would, desirably, compete with the bookstore’s used market. He noted that, although the bookstore is a nonprofit independent, its goal is to make the most money possible. The textbook exchange would involve no profit and would be a straight student-to-student exchange. Students would bring in their used books and receive compensation when the books are purchased by another student.
Addison Henin, a University junior, keeps many of his textbooks, but he said if he knew there was a place where he could buy them cheaper he would be likely to go there rather than the bookstore. But he voiced a concern about textbook availability.
“Just by default, people would end up going to the bookstore quite a bit because they know the books would be there,” he said.
The system implemented at LCC a couple of years ago was considered in the University’s measure. The two are very similar.
Alejandro Juarez, the Oregon Student Association’s LCC Campus Organizer, said the “textbook consignment” program at LCC at first caused tension between the bookstore and the program, but the two eventually came to a cooperative “agreement.”
Juarez said the textbook consignment has been very successful because a lot of students at community colleges are on a limited income.
“When you sell back your books to other companies they really undercut students,” said Juarez. “(With textbook consignment) students are able to bridge the price between what a bookseller would give you back and what a student would give you.”
Because nearly all college students are concerned about money, Juarez doesn’t think textbook exchange would be any less successful at the University.
“There is a class difference at the U of O, but who wouldn’t want to pay less for their books?” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to make some money off of their books? I think that the difference for making more money and saving more money is more important here than at the U of O and that’s why it hasn’t been started yet at the U of O. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be.”
Lee agrees.
“Even if you aren’t a ‘needy’ student,” she said, “you still want to save money.”
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