As Prices For Textbooks Remain High, Grand Valley State U Looks To The Used Book Market To Help Students Save

Grand Valley State University says it’s helping drive down the cost of an item that’s often difficult for cash-strapped students to afford: textbooks.

The University Bookstore estimates that it saved GVSU students a total of $1.4 million on textbooks during the 2010-2011 academic year. Savings for the most recent academic year, which started last fall, were not yet available.

“A lot of the times, college bookstores get a bad rap, but it’s important to let students know what we’re doing to keep our prices low,” said Tony Glaab, associate manager at the University Bookstore.

Glaab said the savings – slightly more than the previous year – were achieved by relying more heavily on used textbooks instead of new ones. The strategy makes sense in many entry level courses where little coursework changes when a new edition of a textbook is released.