Students looking for a deal might find a book exchange has a very affordable price.

The books are free.

The James Madison College Student Senate has a book exchange at the beginning of every semester. The exchange is in the senate’s office, 325 S. Case Hall, and will be officially open within the next two weeks. It will run the entire semester.

“We ask students to bring in their old books to a room and then if other people need those books for class then they get a certain amount of credit, so they basically get those books for free,” said Jared English, an international relations sophomore and James Madison College student senator. English is also a representative for ASMSU.

The program began a few years ago and has been a successful way for many students to budget their money.

“We try to have it up at the beginning of each semester, right now because the student senate hasn’t met, some of us have come in and made sure the freshmen get the books they need,” he said.

Haley Sinclair, chair of the senate and a political theory and constitutional democracy senior, said so far the exchange has been difficult with the start of school.

But the exchange does do students a service, she said.

“Those who use it really seem to appreciate it,” she said.

Sinclair said other spots on campus should investigate the idea of the exchange.

“We all get robbed when we try to take our textbooks back,” she said. “It is nice to do something proactive and help out the other students.”

Another alternative service for books can be found on ASMSU’s Web site, www.asmsu.org. There are plans to have a link where students can find their text books at competitive prices, English said.

“Essentially the plan is for you to go to the Web site, type in the book and it will spit out where you can buy this book and the price,” he said.