Just days before the spring semester begins, students flood the HUB Fishbowl, eager for quick cash and used books for their upcoming classes.

Usually sales at the Association of Residence Hall Students/Undergraduate Student Government Book Co-op begin slowly and selection is often scarce, but the co-op often has a wide range of books by its last day and the best way to shop is to stop by every day, said Jim Pisarski, the ARHS North Halls representative.

Students who bring textbooks to the co-op set the prices. If the books are sold, ARHS and USG take $1 and the student keeps the rest, but if the books do not sell, the student can reclaim them.

"There is no penalty for leaving a book here," Pisarkski said. "Since students can set their own prices, they can't say the bookstore is ripping them off."

Last year students brought in about 940 books and almost 700 were sold.

Sandra Howe (freshman-elementary education) decided to forgo the bookstores this semester and go to the co-op because she is tired of paying the stores' higher prices.

"We're actually doing the students some benefit, actually doing some service," said ARHS President Melissa Pressler.

The co-op won a "Program-of-the-Month" award at a regional National Association of College Residence Halls conference in November, Pressler said.