Bookstore Saves Students $420,000

Story and Photo credit by Hilary Broman

Staff Reporter

The CNM bookstore helped students save $420,000 by offering rental options at all three bookstore locations last year, said Ann Heaton, CNM bookstore area manager.

This year the bookstore is offering to price match other major bookstore vendors to help students save even more money, Heaton said.

Book prices can prevent students from succeeding, Heaton said.

If a student is using financial aid to purchase their books then they either have to buy it full price at the bookstore or wait for their disbursement check to arrive in order to get a discounted price, which is already 3-4 weeks into the term, she said.

They decided to start offering the price match program to help students stay within budget, to make sure that they can help them prepare for success of their higher education career, Heaton stated.

Now students do not have to wait for the books to be shipped to them from Amazon or Chegg, she said.

“We are willing to price match for them right here, right now,” Heaton said.

The goal of the price-matching program is to help further drive the expense of course material down for students to give them a better chance for success, she said.

The price matching system was implemented in the spring term of 2016 but this term it has risen in popularity, Heaton said.

Many students have been excited about it.

“We had one girl who was literally in tears because we price matched for her,” she said.

The price match is given to students in the form of a CNM bookstore gift card, Heaton said.

The students pay full prices for the books and we give them back the difference, she said.

The gift cards never expire and can be used at all of the campus bookstore and café locations, she said.

“We really are committed to doing our best to try to save students as much money as possible because we only want to see them succeed,” Heaton said.

They have been seeing a lot of success from this across the board and Heaton foresees this being an ongoing thing, she said.

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