UW-Madison students who participated in the Associated Students of Madison's textbook swap Aug 28-30 saved over twice as much as they did in past semesters, organizers of the event said Wednesday.
According to a release, the net gain for students who chose to buy and sell their books at the swap was $23,054, which more than doubled last semester's gain of $10,127.
ASM Press Office Director Ken Harris said the semi-annual event occurs over a span of three days. Students turned in their old books to ASM the first day, and other students came the next day and purchased them for 65 percent of what The University Bookstore charges.
""As a student myself, I think we all are kind of tired of the price of books and education materials in general, so any way to save money is a good thing,"" he said.
According to Jonah Zinn, ASM academic affairs chair, the main reason for the increase in savings is efficient advertising and word of mouth on campus.
He said the rising costs of textbooks and the growing need to save money also provides an explanation.
""Things are getting more expensive and more and more students are looking for a way to pay less,"" Zinn said.
He added that ASM plans to change the swap in future semesters to handle the growing influx of books and student participants.
Zinn said ASM hopes to make the swap part of a larger campaign aimed at offsetting the rising cost of education.
""One of the good things about the book swap is that it does touch on the issue of rising educational costs of students,"" he said. ""But it doesn't address the causes or hit on the heart of it, and I think that's something that affects all students on this campus.""
