Starting next semester, textbooks may become a little cheaper for some students at Western Kentucky University.

And if all goes well, all students will eventually feel the financial weight lightened after the Student Government Association voted Tuesday night to begin a Textbook Subsidy Program.

While the program is in the planning phases, the idea is to use a grass-roots technique to solicit funds from parents, alumni and even local businesses to eventually build an endowment fund for textbooks.

The SGA voted to contribute $500 to help start the program that officials at the University Bookstore - which has also pledged $500 - have been working on for more than a year.

Senator Ronnie Santana, a freshman from Greensburg, said the program will be a great opportunity to help students struggling with the rising cost of higher education.

“This is something exciting because it’s made by the students for the students, and it’s here to help them,” Santana said.

Doug Russell, an intern at the University Bookstore, said he was charged with helping develop the program during the summer and decided it would be best to get SGA involved in the initiative.

During the meeting, Russell said the program would probably begin by taking a large section of a class - such as freshmen math - and applying the funds toward reducing the cost of the text for that class in an effort to reach a large number of students.

Details, such as deciding if the cost of the book would be lowered or if the price would be adjusted at the register, have not been decided yet, he said.

SGA President Johnathon Boles said the goal is to eventually build an endowment with the funding, where the interest would be contributed to helping reduce the cost of books to all students.

Russell said while there was discussion of turning to local businesses and asking them to make donations to certain departments or professors, the idea has expanded to looking for smaller donations from everyone.

Fliers may be sent out with bookstore catalogues this winter, asking individuals for a $5, $10 or more donation to the subsidy. Russell said another possibility is to ask students for a $5 donation, for a chance to have their name drawn for free books for a semester.

He said while the program originated at the bookstore, it will not provide any kind of profit to the store.

“I think there is a big misconception with the bookstore that it is only out to make money,” he said. “But we are trying to create something for students.”

The SGA voted to begin a Textbook Subsidy Program Board to determine distribution and funding, as well as finalize all the details.

The board will have nearly 20 members and will include Boles, members from the community and extended campuses, students and representatives from the bookstore and each college at the school.

Jim Sears, assistant director at the bookstore, said he thinks the program will have greater success under the guide of the SGA, as the students have a greater voice in larger areas.

“I think it’s got a lot of potential and I really like the fact that it involves SGA,” he said. “We helped present the idea and gave it to them, and now it’s theirs to take off with.”